BIGELOW’S BRISTLEHEAD
CARPHOCHAETE BIGELOVII
Family: Asteraceae
Perennial subshrub growing to about a foot and a half high and wide. White, tubular flower clusters appear in winter and go until June.
Plant in part to full sun, provide very good drainage and moderate water. Hardiness unknown but plants are native as high as 7500’ in Arizona, so probably hardy into the single digits °F.
Hummingbirds, butterflies and other nectar-seeking insects enjoy the flowers. Good plant for filling in nectar gaps (times when little else is blooming). Seeds are used by granivorous birds. Plants are often browsed by mammals like deer and rabbit.
Photo by Radha Veach, iNaturalist
Carphochaete bigelovii on SEINET
Carphochaete comes from Greek karphos for chaff and chaite, long bristle, while bigelovii is named for Dr. John Milton Bigelow (1804-1878) professor of botany and collector on the Whipple expedition of 1853-1854. There are 6 species of Carphochaete in Mexico and the SW United States. Carphochaete is in the tribe Eupatorieae of the family Asteraceae. Like other members of this tribe, the flower heads have disc florets and no ray florets.
Found in sandy soils, on rock outcrops, in grasslands, chaparral, and pine-oak woodlands; 3,000-7,500 ft. in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and south into northern Mexico.