General: Arrowweed (Pluchea sericea) is an upright shrub often growing 7-9 feet tall with several long, straight, stiff stems per plant. The stems branch towards the tips, providing a straight, stiff shaft suitable for making arrows and spears. The 2-inch leaves are lanceolate and crowed towards the ends of the stems at the top of the plant. The upper stem leaves often radiate from the stem to give a square appearance when looking down the stem (i.e., pairs of opposite leaves), but the leaves actually radiate in 5s rather than 4s.

Pink to purple flowers bloom in the spring and early summer. These are daisy flowers without the petals.

Arrowweed is a common component of streamside communities and often forms dense thickets along streams and in washes and canyons in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zones. When invasive Saltcedars are removed from river systems and deltas, Arrowweed can grow into massive thickets covering hundreds of acres.

Family: Sunflower (Asteraceae).

Other Names:

Plant Form: Upright shrub, forming dense thickets.

Height: Usually 7-9 feet, to 16 feet.

Bark: Silvery gray.

Stems: Long, straight, and stiff; generally branching towards the tip.

Leaves: Lanceolate (long and narrow; pointed tip), entire, 2-inches long, occurs mostly towards the top of the stem.

Flowers: Blooms spring and early summer. Inflorescence: heads of many disk flowers; head about 1/3-inch wide. Flowers: tiny (about 1/4 inch long), pink to purple disk flowers.

Seeds: Tiny achene (like a tiny sunflower seed) with a bristle.

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils along streams and washes.

Elevation: Below about 2,000 feet.

Distribution: California to Texas, and south into northwestern Mexico.

Comments: Native peoples used the straight, stiff shafts making arrows and spears.