Wyethia scabra (Badland Mule-Ears)
Family
ASTERACEAE
Common Name
Badland Mule-Ears
Description
Distinguished by the leaves being linear to linear-lanceolate; basal lvs absent, reduced, or similar in size to the cauline leaves. Weber recognizes two "well-marked" races: ssp. scabra, with the outher phyl coarsely hirsute, and ssp. canescens Weber, with the phyls closely imbricated with recurved tips, and covered with fine appressed hairs. (3) "A handsome but rather coarse palnt, with numerous stems from a woody base (2) Welsh writes, "Segregation of the proposed varieties is an exercise in frustration" (5)
Distribution
ARIZ: Apache, Navajo, and Coconino counties, 5,000-6,000 ft, fairly common on dry slopes and mesas. Wyoming-east central Utah, NW New Mexico, and NE Arizona (2). UTAH: Blackbrush, vanclevera-ephedra, other mixed desert shru, oak, pinyon-juniper, and ponderosa pine communities at 1220 to 2625 m in Carbon, Daggett, Duchesne, Emery, Garfield, Grand, Kane, San Juan, and Uintah counties, Arizona, Colorado, NM and Wyoming (5)
Remarks
On the Albuquerque Plant List for xerophytic landscaping. "Said to be used as an emetic by the Hopi and Navajo Indians, but they consider it dangerous" (2)
Important Literature
2: Kearney and Peebles, 1951
3: Weber, W. 1987. Colorado Flora: Western Slope. Colorado Associated University Press.
4: Weber, W.A. 1946. A taxonomic and cytological study of the genus Wyethia, family Compositae, with notes on the related genus Balsamorhiza. Amer. Midl. Nat. 35:400-452.
5. Welsh, 1993
1: Martin and Hutchins, 1981
Information Compiled By
Patricia Barlow-Irick 1998
For distribution maps and more information, visit Natural Heritage New Mexico