Pixel Wild
Brittlebush
Brittlebush
Encelia farinosa
Plantae
COMMON

Stats

Lifespan
Perennial
Size
Medium
Diet
Photosynthetic
Biome
Desert
Range
North America
Movement
Sessile
Breeding
Seeds
Defense
Toxins
Status
Common

About

A silvery, dome-shaped desert shrub of the Sonoran and Mojave deserts that blankets rocky hillsides in golden daisy-like blooms each spring. Its brittle stems ooze a fragrant resin once burned as incense at early California missions, earning it the Spanish name 'incienso.'

Life cycle

  1. 1.
    seed
    A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
  2. 2.
    sprout
    A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
  3. 3.
    sapling
    A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
  4. 4.
    mature
    Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom
Plantae
Phylum
Tracheophyta
Class
Magnoliopsida
Order
Asterales
Family
Asteraceae
Genus
Encelia
Species
Encelia farinosa