Vegetation Around Las Vegas, Woolly Brickellbush (Brickellia incana)

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Woolly Brickellbush (Brickellia incana)
Shrubs Around Las Vegas, Vegetation Around Las Vegas

General: Woolly Brickellbush (Brickellia incana) is a full-sized shrub with woolly, heart-shaped, sessile leaves and woolly stems. The woolly nature gives this plant an unusual shiny-silver appearance. This shrub in in the sunflower family, but the flowers have no "petals," only a "center" (i.e., disk flowers only). The stamens are long and red, giving the flower a reddish color. The sepals are long, overlapping, and a bit purplish.

Woolly Brickellbush is a common component of vegetation in sandy bajadas and flats in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zone. Around Las Vegas, look for this species in the Mojave National Preserve where it lines the roads around Kelso for many miles.

Family: Sunflower (Asteraceae)

Shiny-silver appearance with persistent flowers	Shiny-silver appearance with persistent flowers
Leaves and stem. Note that the woolly hairs and sessile leaves	Leaves are alternate on the stem
This leaf is a bit small, but it is heart-shaped	This leaf is a bit small, but it is heart-shaped
Flower bud ready to open	Note the purplish color
Flower in the grandeur of full bloom	Flower with long, red stamens
Flower with many, overlapping sepals	Leaves are alternate on the stem
Mature seedhead with seeds ready to ride on the wind	Shiny-silver appearance with persistent sepals
Ripe seedhead	Single seed with a pappus to carry it on the wind
Single seed with a pappus to carry it on the wind	Pappus
Old sepals persist	Old sepals persist

Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate. Names generally follow the USDA database.
; Last updated 220101

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