Thurber’s Desertpeony
Acourtia thurberi
Family: Asteraceae
An herbaceous shrub, similar to A. wrightii but with larger leaves. Flowers typically emerge in June and continue into the fall until about October. This species is also the largest-growing species, reaching heights of about 5 feet tall, though often found at about 3 feet.
Different from Acourtia wrightii by having more rounded, egg-shaped leaves; phyllaries (involucral bracts) with covered with stipitate glands; and fewer flowers per head (3-6 flowers, compared to 8-11 flowers in A. wrightii).
Moderate water, part to full sun. Hardiness unknown but native up to 6,000’ so probably at least into the low teens °F.
Nectar-rich flowers attract many pollinators and this species is important to the native bees that occur in its regional distribution. Larval host for the Snout Plume Moth (Hellinsia longifrons) and probably other moth species.
Photo by Maura Thoenes, iNaturalist
Acourtia thurberi on SEINET
Formerly known as Perezia thurberi. There are 82 species of Acourtia native to the Southwestern United States (from Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah to Texas) and Mesoamerica (in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico). Acourtia is named for Mary Elizabeth Catherine Gibbes A-Court (1792-1878), while thurberi is named for Dr. George Thurber (1821-1890) a botanist on the Mexican Boundary Survey of 1850-1854.
Found on gravel, and caliche soils in desert scrub communities, from 4,000-6,000 ft. in Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and south into central Mexico.