General: Arrowweed (Pluchea sericea) is an upright shrub often growing 7-9 feet tall with several long, straight, stiff stems per plant. The stems branch towards the tips, providing a straight, stiff shaft suitable for making arrows and spears. The 2-inch leaves are lanceolate and crowed towards the ends of the stems at the top of the plant. Pink to purple composite flowers bloom in the spring and early summer.

Arrowweed is a common component of streamside communities and often forms dense thickets along streams and in washes and canyons in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zones.

Family: Sunflower (Asteraceae).

Other Names:

Plant Form: Upright shrub, forming dense thickets.

Height: Usually 7-9 feet, to 16 feet.

Bark: Silvery gray.

Stems: Long, straight, and stiff; generally branching towards the tip.

Leaves: Lanceolate (long and narrow; pointed tip), entire, 2-inches long, occurs mostly towards the top of the stem.

Flowers: Blooms spring and early summer. Inflorescence: heads of many disk flowers; head about 1/3-inch wide. Flowers: tiny (about 1/4 inch long), pink to purple disk flowers.

Seeds: Tiny achene (like a tiny sunflower seed) with a bristle.

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils along streams and washes.

Elevation: Below about 2,000 feet.

Distribution: California to Texas, and south into northwestern Mexico.

Comments: Native peoples used the straight, stiff shafts making arrows and spears.