Flora of North America species comparison

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Encelia farinosa

brittlebush, incienso
Habit Shrubs, 30–150 cm (sap fragrant).
Stems

branched distally, tomentose, developing smooth barks.
Leaves

cauline (clustered near stem tips);

petioles 10–20 mm;

blades silver or gray, ovate to lanceolate, 20–70 mm, apices obtuse or acute, faces tomentose.
Peduncles

glabrous except near heads (± yellow).
Involucres

4–10 mm.
Ray florets

11–21;

corolla laminae 8–12 mm.
Disc corollas

yellow or brown-purple, 5–6 mm.
Phyllaries

lanceolate.
Heads

in paniculiform arrays (branching among heads mainly distal).
Cypselae

3–6 mm;

pappi 0.
2n

= 36.

Encelia farinosa
Phenology Flowering Feb–May, Aug–Sep.
Habitat Coastal scrub, stony desert hillsides
Elevation 0–1000 m (0–3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Plants of Encelia farinosa with brown-purple disc corollas, found along the Colorado and Salt rivers, and common in Baja California, are var. phenicodonta. Plants with substrigose leaves, capitulescences branched toward bases rather than distally, and ray florets reduced in both size and number are most often hybrids and backcrosses between E. farinosa and E. frutescens. P. A. Munz (1959) indicated that I. L. Wiggins had reported var. radians Brandegee ex S. F. Blake as occurring in southeastern California; that variety is known only from Baja California.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 21, p. 121.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Ecliptinae > Encelia
Sibling taxa
E. actoni, E. californica, E. frutescens, E. nutans, E. resinifera, E. scaposa, E. virginensis
Synonyms E. farinosa var. phenicodonta
Name authority A. Gray ex Torrey: in W. H. Emory, Not. Milit. Reconn., 143. (1848)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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