WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

 
 

Like minuscule tacks, flat-headed glands cover the 8-inch tall, branching stems and bases of the showy, white flower heads. Note the square tips of the ray flowers with 5 tiny teeth, the red stripes on the backs of the outside rays, and the milky sap.


FLOWERS: March–June. Flower heads to 1 1/2-inches wide (38 mm) packed with rows of white, petal-like ray flowers with squared tips and 5 teeth, rays smaller toward the yellow-tinted center, no disk flowers present; rows of phyllaries beneath the rays covered with conspicuous tack-like glands.


LEAVES: Basal rosette; alternate on stem. Blades deeply incised to the midrib with narrow, linear lobes. Leaves greatly reduced up the stem, surfaces hairless.


HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils; desert grassland and scrub.


ELEVATION: 4,100–6,100 feet.


RANGE: AZ, CA, NM, NV, UT.


SIMILAR SPECIES: The look-alike Desert Chicory, Rafinesquia neomexicana, in much the same range, lacks the tiny, tack-shaped glands on the stems and flower bases.


NM COUNTIES: SW quarter of NM in low-elevation, arid habitats: Dona Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Luna, Otero, Sierra, Socorro.

WHITE  TACKSTEM

CALYCOSERIS  WRIGHTII

Aster family, Asteraceae

Annual herb

Leaf blades deeply incised to the midrib with narrow, linear lobes; milky sap (arrow).

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Glands on plant look like minute tacks.

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