Desert chicory facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Desert chicory |
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| Flowering plant near Amboy, California | |
| Scientific classification | |
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Cichorieae
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| Genus: |
Rafinesquia
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| Species: |
R. neomexicana
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| Binomial name | |
| Rafinesquia neomexicana |
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Rafinesquia neomexicana is a type of flowering plant. It belongs to the Asteraceae family, which is also known as the Sunflower or Daisy Family. People often call it desert chicory, plumeseed, or New Mexico plumeseed.
This plant has pretty white flowers and a milky liquid inside its stems, called sap. Its stems are a bit weak and zig-zaggy, so they sometimes grow through other plants for support. Rafinesquia neomexicana is an annual plant, meaning it grows, flowers, and dies all in one year. You can find it in dry desert areas in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.
Contents
Where Does Desert Chicory Grow?
This plant lives in the dry, sunny deserts of North America.
States in the U.S.
In the United States, you can find it in:
Regions in Mexico
It also grows in the Mexican states of:
Desert Homes
Desert chicory thrives in the Mojave Desert and the Sonoran Desert. This includes a part of the Sonoran Desert called the Colorado Desert. It likes sandy or gravelly soils. You'll often see it growing among creosote bush scrub and in Joshua Tree woodland areas.
What Does Desert Chicory Look Like?
Rafinesquia neomexicana plants are usually gray-green and don't have a lot of leaves. They grow to be about 15 to 50 centimeters (6 to 20 inches) tall.
Leaves and Stems
The leaves at the bottom of the plant are long, from 5 to 20 centimeters (2 to 8 inches). They are pinnate, which means they have narrow, feather-like parts. The leaves higher up on the stem are smaller.
Flowers
White flowers appear at the end of the stems. This usually happens between May and June in the areas where the plant naturally grows.
Each flower head grows by itself at the tip of a branch. These flower heads are made up of many small, strap-shaped ray flowers. The outer ray flowers are longer, making the whole head look like one big flower, just like a sunflower or a daisy. The outer flowers extend beyond the small leaf-like parts (called phyllaries) that enclose the flower head before it opens.
See also
In Spanish: Rafinesquia neomexicana para niños
