Family: Asteraceae

Evergreen shrub with resinous foliage, 3x3’. Yellow rayless flowers occur September-December. In cold, dry areas the plants may become deciduous. But usually in the low desert they are evergreen.

Grow in full sun, with moderate to low water, hardy to about 10°F.

Yellow flowers emerge in the fall and attract lots of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.

Used as a treatment for indigestion and other stomach ailments. Extracts of the plant have shown antifungal, anticyanobacterial, and antitermite effects.

Flourensia is named for Marie-Jean-Pierre Flourens (1794-1867) a French physiologist, while cernua means drooping or nodding.

Found in desert flats, often co-dominant with creosote from 2,500-6,500 ft. in southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, southwestern Texas; south into central Mexico. It is most common on alluvial soils derived from limestone, the main parent material for the soils of the Chihuahuan Desert.

Photo by Pete Siminski, iNaturalist
Flourensia cernua on SEINET