B85 



BROOM SNAKEWEED 



Gutierre'zia saro'thrae, syns. G. diversifo'lia, G. eutha'miae, G. linea'ris, 

 G. longifo'lia, G. te'nuis 



Flower heads small (less than K in. broad). 

 4- to 12-flowered, short-stalked or in small 

 bunches, in loose, flat-topped end clusters 

 (cymes) 



Outer (ray) flowers of heads 3 to 6, narrow, 

 petal-like, about ft in. long, turned downward, 

 female, seed-producing 



Inner (disk) flowers of heads small, tubular, 

 perfect, seed-producing 



Bracts in a 2- to 4-rowed series around the 

 flower head, small, pale white to light brown, 

 green-tipped, leathery, spirally arranged, often 

 appearing in somewhat vertical ranks 



Leaves alternate, narrow to threadlike, about 

 Ko in. wide and from ^ to IK in. long, entire, 

 with prominent midrib, slightly resinous- 

 sticky 



Stems round, slender, rigid, erect, numerous 

 from a woody base, unbranched except for the 

 flower-bearing branchlets near the top; young 

 stems green, herbaceous, slightly sticky; ma- 

 ture stems brown, somewhat woody, dying to 

 near the base but remaining throughout the 

 winter 



"Seed" (achene) reverse-egg-shaped, finely 

 hairy, tipped with a few, short, papery, chaffy 

 scales (pappus) 



Taproot deep, with numerous, deep and 

 extensive lateral roots 



Broom snakeweed, often known as broomweed, matchweed, turpentine-weed 

 and! yellow top, is a half -shrub with woody roots, crowns, and stem bases. The 

 Mexicans often call it yerba-de-vibora and coyaye. In 1816 the genus was named 

 after Piedro Gutierrez, a correspondent of the Madrid Botanical Garden. The 

 specific name, a derivative of the Greek sarotron and the new Latin sarothrum, 

 meaning broom, refers to the dense, brooinlike bunches of dry, herbaceous 

 stems. 



On a conservative nomenclatural basis there are about 25' species of Gutier- 

 rezia, all confined to the New World. About 10 occur in the United States, all 



