WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

 
 

From spring through summer, flat to rounded clusters with dozens of tiny white flowers crown the 1–3-foot tall stems. Soft, woolly hairs cover the aromatic, fern-like leaves that grow in a dense rosette around the base and along the stem. Yellow and red varieties occur, popular in gardens.


FLOWER: Spring through summer. Flat-topped to rounded clusters densely are packed with 20–35 tiny white to pink flower heads. The 1/4-inch (6 mm) wide ray flowers have 3–8 petal-like rays each with three notches. 


LEAVES: Alternate. Blades 1 1/4–14 inches (3.5–35 cm) long, covered with soft, woolly hairs, smaller towards top of plant; fern-like, divided 1–3 times, with a lance-shaped outline.


HABITAT: Gravelly, sandy loam soils, meadows, stream sides, grasslands, roadsides; pinyon-juniper, ponderosa, spruce–fir forests.


ELEVATION: 4,000–12,500 feet.


RANGE: Nationwide.


SIMILAR SPECIES: Numerous species in the Parsley Family, Apiaceae, have rounded clusters of white flowers, but they don’t have the combination of ray and disk flowers.


NM COUNTIES: Common, nearly statewide in NM mountains in mid- to high-elevation habitats.


NOTES: The flowers make a yellow dye and the aromatic leaves have traditional medicinal value, but can be toxic. With white, yellow, and pink garden varieties, drought-tolerant Yarrow is popular in xeriscape gardens.

YARROW

ACHILLEA  MILLEFOLIUM

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Aster Family, Asteraceae

Perennial herb

Naturally pink flowers on the 10K Trail in the Sandia Mountains.

Horticultural varieties are common in the nursery trade.

  1. 1.Ray flowers (upper arrow)

  2. 2. Disk flowers (lower arrow)

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