General: Mojave Rabbitbrush (Ericameria paniculata), previously called Black-banded Rabbitbrush, is an upright, usually waist-high shrub with green stems and thread-like leaves dotted with resin-filled pits. During fall, the plants produces dense, yellow flowerheads at the top of the shrub. The flowerheads have only disk flowers, and the phyllaries are unequal in length. The phyllaries are also thin, and the mid-vein is often evident but not raised or enlarged at tip.

Mojave Rabbitbrush has a relationship with a smut fungus (Puccinia splendens) that produces conspicuous black bands around the stems, giving this species the black-banded common name. The black bands are useful in identifying this species.

Mojave Rabbitbrush is a common component of wash communities in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) life zone.

Family: Sunflower (Asteraceae).

Other Names: Black-banded Rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus paniculatus)

Plant Form: Upright shrub with many, green stems

Height: Usually to waist-high, occasionally head-high.

Bark: New bark is green; older bark is light gray.

Stems: Erect.

Leaves: Narrow (to 2 inches long and 1/5 inch wide), green, resinous

Flowers: Blooms in the fall. Inflorescence: many dense heads of tiny yellow flowers, sometimes covering the entire top of the shrub. Ripens to brown, fluffy flowerheads atop the plant.

Seeds: Small, hairy achene (like a tiny sunflower seed).

Habitat: Gravelly soils in and along washes.

Elevation: about 1,000 to 5,000 feet

Distribution: California to Utah and Arizona.

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