Encelia farinosa
| Encelia farinosa | |
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| File:Encelia farinosa form.jpg | |
| near Palm Springs, California | |
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E. farinosa
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| Binomial name | |
| Encelia farinosa |
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Encelia farinosa (commonly known as brittlebush or brittlebrush), is a common desert shrub of northern Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Hidalgo) and the southwestern United States (California, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada).[1][2][3]
The common name "brittlebush" comes from the brittleness of its stems. Other names include hierba del vaso (Spanish) and cotx (Seri).[4] Another Spanish name for it is incienso because the dried sap was burned by early Spanish missions in the New World as incense.
Habitat
E. farinosa can be found in a variety of habitats from dry, gravelly slopes to open, sandy washes up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft). It requires a very sunny position in a deep very well-drained soil. It does well in cultivation often being used for border, erosion control, ground cover and massing [5] and recently has spread dramatically in areas not natural to its distribution in large part because Caltrans has begun to use it in hydroseeding.
Description
Brittlebush grows up to 30 to 150 cm (12 to 59 in) tall,[6] with fragrant leaves 3–8 cm long, ovate to deltoid, and silvery tomentose. The capitula are 3.0–3.5 cm in diameter, with orange-yellow ray florets and yellow or purple-brown disc florets. They are arranged in loose panicles above the leafy stems fruit 3–6 mm and no pappus is seen.[1]
3-Acetyl-6-methoxybenzaldehyde is found in the leaves of E. farinosa.[7]
Varieties
Two varieties of E. farinosa are recognized by Flora of North America.[1]
- E. f. var. farinosa - yellow disc florets
- E. f. var. phenicodonta (Blake) I.M.Johnston - purple-brown disc florets
Varieties formerly included E. f. var. radians, now regarded as a separate species E. radians Brandegee.[8]
Uses
Brittlebush has a long history of uses by indigenous and pioneer peoples.
- Glue: The resin collected from the base of the plant, yellowish to brown, can be heated and used as a glue. The O'odham and Seri use it for hafting, to hold points on arrows and harpoons.[4]
- Sealer: A different sort of resin collected from the upper stems is more gummy and generally a clear yellow. The Seri use this to seal pottery vessels.[4]
- Incense: Early Spanish friars learned that the resin made a highly fragrant incense, akin to frankincense in odor.[9]
- Gum: The Sells area Tohono O'odham children use upper stem resin as a passable chewing gum.
- Toothbrush: Oldtime cowboys used brittlebush stem as a fine toothbrush.
- Medicinal: Seri use brittlebush to treat toothache; the bark is removed, the branch heated in ashes, and then placed in the mouth to "harden" a loose tooth.[4] The Cahuilla used brittlebush to treat toothaches as well,[10] and used it as a chest pain reliever by heating the gum and applying it to the chest.[10][11]
- Waterproofing: It has been used to waterproof containers [5]
- Varnish: It has been melted then used as a varnish [5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Brittlebush, incienso, Encelia farinosa A.Gray ex Torrey
- ↑ http://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Encelia%20farinosa.png
- ↑ Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Hogan, C. Michael (ed.) Brittlebush – Encelia farinosa at the Encyclopedia of Life. Accessed 1 April 2013.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Encelia farinosa. |
- Pages with broken file links
- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- Encelia
- Flora of the Southwestern United States
- Flora of Northwestern Mexico
- Flora of the California desert regions
- Flora of the Sonoran Deserts
- Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands
- Natural history of the Colorado Desert
- Natural history of the Mojave Desert
- Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges
- Natural history of the Santa Monica Mountains
- Plants used in traditional Native American medicine
- Drought-tolerant plants
- Garden plants of North America
- Plants described in 1848
