About Rafinesquia neomexicana A.Gray
Rafinesquia neomexicana A.Gray is an annual plant that is gray-green in color, has sparse foliage, and grows 15 to 50 centimeters (6 to 19 and a half inches) tall. Basal leaves are 5 to 20 centimeters (2 to 8 inches) long, pinnate with narrow lobes, while leaves growing higher on the stem are smaller. In this species' native range, white flowerheads develop at the end of stems between May and June. Flowerheads grow singly at the tips of branches. Each flowerhead is made up of strap-shaped ray flowers that get longer toward the outer part of the head. Like other plants in the sunflower family, these ray flowers together look like a single flower. The outer flowers in the flowerhead extend well beyond the 1.5 to 2.5 centimeter (1/2 to 1 inch) long phyllaries, which are the bracts that enclose the flowerhead before it opens. Similar species to Rafinesquia neomexicana are R. californica and Calycoseris wrightii. In the United States, this species is found in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. In Mexico, it occurs in the states of Baja California and Sonora. It grows in the Mojave Desert and the Sonoran Desert, including the Colorado Desert sub-region. It inhabits sandy or gravelly soils in creosote bush scrub and Joshua Tree woodland plant communities across these desert regions, ranging from California to Texas and into northern Mexico.
