Broom snakeweed facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Broom snakeweed |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Gutierrezia
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| Species: |
sarothrae
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List of Synonyms
Brachyris divaricata
Galinsoga linearifolia Gutierrezia corymbosa Gutierrezia digyna Gutierrezia divaricata Gutierrezia diversifolia Gutierrezia euthamiae Gutierrezia fasciculata Gutierrezia filifolia Gutierrezia fulva Gutierrezia furferacea Gutierrezia globosa Gutierrezia goldmanii Gutierrezia greenei Gutierrezia haenkei Gutierrezia ionensis Gutierrezia juncea Gutierrezia laricina Gutierrezia lepidota Gutierrezia linearifolia Gutierrezia linearis Gutierrezia linoides Gutierrezia longifolia Gutierrezia longipappa Gutierrezia myriocephala Gutierrezia pomariensis Gutierrezia scoparia Gutierrezia tenuis Solidago sarothrae Xanthocephalum digynum Xanthocephalum longipappum Xanthocephalum sarothrae Xanthocephalum tenue |
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Gutierrezia sarothrae is a type of flowering plant. It's known by many common names like broom snakeweed, broomweed, snakeweed, and matchweed. This plant is a subshrub, which means it's a small, woody shrub. It grows naturally across much of western North America, from western Canada down to northern Mexico. You can find it in dry areas, grasslands, and mountains.
Sometimes, Gutierrezia sarothrae is confused with another plant called rabbitbrush. But you can tell them apart because broom snakeweed has small, petal-like flowers called ray flowers, which rabbitbrush plants do not have.
Contents
What Broom Snakeweed Looks Like
Gutierrezia sarothrae is a perennial plant, meaning it lives for more than two years. It grows as a small shrub, usually between 20 to 100 centimeters (about 8 to 39 inches) tall. Its stems are green to brown, and they grow upwards from a woody base. These stems are like soft branches and can look quite bushy.
When the plant goes dormant (rests) in colder months, the stems dry out. This makes the plant look like a broom, which is how it got its name. The stems can be smooth or have short hairs. They might also feel sticky because they contain a natural substance called resin.
Small, yellow flowers grow in tight groups at the ends of the stems. These flowers usually appear from mid-July to September. Since all the stems are about the same length, the plant often looks like a dome or a fan when it's flowering.
The leaves of G. sarothrae are long and thin, like lines. They are about 5 to 60 millimeters (0.2 to 2.4 inches) long and 1 to 3 millimeters (0.04 to 0.12 inches) wide. The leaves near the bottom of the plant often fall off before the flowers bloom.
When it first starts growing, G. sarothrae develops a long, strong main root called a taproot. As the plant gets older, it also grows many smaller roots that spread out sideways.
Different insects help pollinate the flowers of G. sarothrae. After pollination, the plant produces an oval-shaped fruit covered with small, dry scales. The plant spreads by its seeds. These seeds are light, covered in dense hairs, and can be carried by the wind. One plant can make over 9,000 seeds each year! Most ripe seeds fall right under the parent plant. The seeds can stay alive in the soil for several years, waiting for the right conditions to grow.
Where Broom Snakeweed Grows
Gutierrezia sarothrae is a plant native to North America. You can find it across west-central Canada (in the Prairie Provinces), the western and central United States (Great Plains and areas to the west), and northern Mexico. It grows as far south as Zacatecas and Baja California Sur.
This plant is very good at saving water and can handle dry conditions. This allows it to live in arid (very dry) and semi-arid places. These include rocky plains, dry hillsides, mountain slopes, and semi-desert valleys.
Gutierrezia sarothrae can adapt to many different environments, called ecoregions. It grows in pinyon-juniper woodlands, desert shrublands, and sagebrush-grasslands. It can grow in many types of soil as long as it gets full sun and the water drains well. It grows best in clay soils on slopes and in shallow, rocky, or sandy soil. However, it doesn't grow well in salty or very alkaline soils.
How People Used Broom Snakeweed
Long ago, Native American groups in the Great Plains used Gutierrezia sarothrae for many purposes:
- The Comanche people tied the stems together to make brooms.
- The Blackfoot used the roots in a special herbal steam to help with breathing problems.
- The Lakota made a special liquid from the plant to treat colds, coughs, and dizziness.
- The Dakota made a strong liquid from the flowers to help horses with constipation.
- The Navajo rubbed the ashes of the plant on their bodies for headaches and dizziness. They also chewed the plant and put it on wounds, snakebites, and swollen areas from insect stings.
- The Zuni made a drink from the blossoms to help with urination and to make their limbs and muscles strong. They also used a liquid from the whole plant on their skin for muscle aches.
Broom snakeweed is not a good food source for most large grazing animals like deer or elk. However, it is important for pronghorn antelope in some areas, especially in spring and summer. It can make up a good portion of their diet. It's not very valuable for cattle and horses, but it can be a decent winter food for sheep when there isn't much green food available.
When land is disturbed, G. sarothrae can quickly grow there. This helps prevent soil from washing away or blowing away. For example, it can help stabilize loose, wind-blown soils in sand dunes. It is considered to have low to medium potential for controlling erosion and for helping land grow new plants in the long term.
Is Broom Snakeweed Harmful?
Gutierrezia sarothrae can be harmful to domestic sheep, goats, and cattle if they eat too much of it. This is mainly because it contains natural chemicals called saponins. However, domestic goats are somewhat more resistant to its harmful effects.
Managing Broom Snakeweed
Gutierrezia sarothrae is considered a problem plant in many rangelands (areas where animals graze). It can spread quickly and take over areas where other useful plants should be growing. This often happens when livestock overgraze the grasses, leaving the snakeweed untouched. Because of this, a lot of G. sarothrae can be a sign that the rangeland is not healthy.
This plant does not do well with fire. A fire can severely damage or kill it, sometimes removing it completely from an area. However, its seeds can survive in the soil. This means that after a fire, the number of G. sarothrae plants might actually increase. So, sometimes, people need to burn areas every five to ten years to keep its populations down.
Using chemicals (herbicides) to control it can work, but the results vary. When herbicides are effective, the plant populations can be controlled for up to five years. Trying to remove the plants by hand or machine is usually not very effective. Hoeing the plants just below the soil can work, but it's hard to do in rocky areas. Scientists have also looked into using natural enemies, like certain insects, to control the plant. For example, a combination of a weevil and a moth from Argentina that bore into the roots has been found to be an effective way to control it.
See also
In Spanish: Gutierrezia sarothrae para niños
