Button Brittlebush,
Button Encelia
Encelia frutescens
Color: Yellow
Common name: Button Brittlebush, Button Encelia
Latin name: Encelia frutescens
Family: ASTERACEAE
Height: 3-5 feet
Description: A shrub in the daisy family without ray flowers. It is composed of only a disc packed with disc florets on brittle, white stems.
Leaf: Alternate egg-shaped rough and dark green leaves are scattered along the stems and are covered with short, stiff hairs.
Range: Desert
Habitat: Washes, rocky flats and slopes
Elevation: < 800 m.
Flowering time: Feb–May
Notes: In the Sonoran Desert these plants can bloom quite profusely in response to summer rain. Encelia frutescens, a dicot, is a shrub that is native to California and is also found outside of California, but is confined to western North America. There are four Encelia species found in the California deserts. Distribution outside California: s Nevada, w Arizona, Baja California. Photographed March 25, 2005 using a Canon EOS 10D with 100mm macro lens.
We have an online wildflower field guide that is designed to help you identify desert wildflowers by color, scientific name, region and common name. The pictures are sized to work on the iPod, iPhone, iPad and similar devices. With your iPod or phone you will easily be able to identify wildflowers while in the desert. Links for downloads are on the bottom of the Wildflower Field Guide page.
Photo tips: Most digital point-and-shoot cameras have a macro function - usually symbolized by the icon of a little flower. When you turn on that function, you allow your camera to get closer to the subject, looking into a flower for example. Or getting up close and personal with a bug. More on desert photography.
Mojave Desert Wildflowers - This book is the standard by which all other wildflower books are measured. The author, Jon Mark Stewart, has combined super photography with concise information. This book has an entire color page for each wildflower covered, with a discussion of the wildflower. 210 pages with 200 color photos. More...
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