Tatalencho
Gymnosperma glutinosa
Illustrated from a specimen found near summit of Piestewa Peak, Phoenix,
Maricopa County, Arizona.
FLOWERS: Yellow, borne in small heads that are themselves borne in
fairly dense panicles with most of the heads clustered near the top. The
specimen illustrated at left was growing in marginal habitat so the flowering
heads are sparser than usual. Overall appearance is reminiscent of goldenrod
and like goldenrod late summer to fall is the usual blooming time, although the
illustrated specimen was blooming in early December.
PERENNIAL HERB: Slightly woody at and above the crown. Grows to a small
shrub with sometimes many few-branched stems arizing from crown.
LEAVES: Evergreen leaves are alternate, linear and coated with sticky
looking material. The phyllaries are also coated with goo. nother common name
for this plant is gumhead.
RANGE: Upper Sonoran Scrub appearing mostly above 1000 m in Arizona. It
is not especially common.
PAPPUS: (crown at apex of achene) almost none.
UNARMED.