Brickellbush goldenweed facts for kids

Hazardia brickellioides is a type of shrub often called brickellbush goldenweed. It belongs to the Asteraceae family, which includes many plants like daisies and sunflowers. This plant naturally grows in the Mojave Desert in California and Nevada. You can usually find it in rocky areas where the soil is made of limestone.

What Does It Look Like?

Hazardia brickellioides is a medium-sized shrub. It usually grows to be about 20 to 80 centimeters (that's about 8 to 31 inches) tall. Its stems are covered in rough hairs, and these hairs often have sticky, yellowish sap glands on their tips.

Leaves and Flowers

The leaves of this plant are tough and leathery. They are oval-shaped and can grow up to about 3.5 centimeters (about 1.4 inches) long. Their edges usually have small, spiny teeth.

The plant produces several flower heads. A flower head is like a cluster of many small flowers that look like one big flower. Each flower head is about one centimeter (0.4 inches) wide when it's fully open. The outside of the flower head is covered with hairy, sticky leaf-like parts called phyllaries.

Inside each flower head, you'll find tiny yellow disc florets in the center. These are surrounded by a ring of even smaller yellow ray florets on the outside.

Fruit

After the flowers bloom, the plant produces a fruit called an achene. This is a small, dry fruit that contains a single seed. The achene of Hazardia brickellioides is hairy and white. It has a fluffy top called a pappus, which is made of many white or brown bristles. This pappus helps the seeds float away in the wind, spreading the plant to new places.