Shrubs Around Las Vegas, Vegetation Around Las Vegas
 Pungent Brickellbush growing on limestone atop Lone Mountain |
General: Pungent Brickellbush (Brickellia arguta) is a small shrub of rocky places with simple, veiny (3 main veins) leaves and prickles along the edges. Dried leaves and flowers persisting on the shrub is a characteristic of the genus. This shrub is in the sunflower family, but the flowers have no "petals," only a "center" (i.e., discoid flowers) with 40–90 individual flowers per disk. Sepals wide and coming to a point. Phyllaries narrow. Stems densely branched and minutely glandular. Leaves simple with short petiole, pointed with 3 main veins, often with sparse stiff hairs but not white-tomentose, prickles along the edges. Pungent Brickellbush is a fairly common component of vegetation in rocky places in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zone. Around Las Vegas, look for this species on Lone Mountain, at Red Rocks, and in Gold Butte. Family: Sunflower (Asteraceae) Other Names: Formerly a variety of Spearleaf Brickellbush (Brickellia atractyloides var. arguta) |
 Pungent Brickellbush growing from cracks on limestone outcrop |
 Pungent Brickellbush with many old leaves |
 Pungent Brickellbush with old leaves |
 Pungent Brickellbush with old leaves |
 Leaves simple, pointed, 3 main veins |
 Leaves with sparse stiff hairs but not white-tomentose |
 Leaves with sparse stiff hairs but not white-tomentose |
 Leaves simple with short petiole |
 Leaves with sparse stiff hairs but not white-tomentose |
 In the fall, the stiff leaves begin to die on the plant |
 Leaf and flower bud |
 Sepals wide, coming to a sharp point |
 Leaf and flower bud |
 Leaf and flower bud |
 Flowers discoid on terminal branch tips |
 Discoid flower with narrow phyllaries |
 Discoid flower with 40–90 individual flowers |
 Sepals wide and coming to a point |
 Dry leaves and flowers persist on the plant |
 Dry leaves and flowers persist on the plant for at least 2 years |
Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate. Names generally follow the USDA database.
; Last updated 190319
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