Odora
Slender Poreleaf
Porophyllum gracile
Rocky slope along Black Canyon s. of Bumblebee, Yavapai Co., Arizona. Sept. 2008.
Signal Mountain, Maricopa Co., Arizona. 5 March 2017.
A number of insects feed on and in this plant. Look for swellings in the plant stems caused my minute flies called Gall Midges. Cut the frest galls open to find the small orange larvae responsible.
Odora Gall Midge
Asphondylia sp.
LEAVES: The slightest brush against this plant will permeate the air
with curious aroma - pleasant or quite unpleasant depending on the observer.
Leaves are linear and grass like. They are smooth and shiny. Under
magnification (10x loop) the translucent oil glands can be seen easily.
PERENNIAL: Mostly herbaceous perennial with thin wispy stems less than
one meter tall. Regrows season after season from lower woody stems
and crown.
RANGE: Frequent throughout the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and Mexico at
roadsides, on rocky slopes and along wash banks.
FRUIT: The seeds are topped with a pappus of fine bristles.
FLOWERS: The single series of phyllaries of the flower head are tall and
narrowly enclose the two dozen or so disc flowers. The flower heads do not open
wide and the florets soon fade from white, purple or pink to brownish and are not
showy. The glands on the phyllaries are conspicuous. Flowers in spring and then
again after the summer rains.
UNARMED.
