Descriptive Flora 



217 



the woody wand-like stems naked below, branched and very leafy 

 above. Leaves simple, alternate. Blades very narrow, entire, 

 rolled back from the margin, y 2 to l 1 /^" long. Bracts of the in- 

 volucre slender, delicately ribbed, glistening with tiny glandular 

 secretions, the outer successively shorter, and innermost long 

 and closely appressed forming a narrow tube which holds the 

 slender tubular flowers. Achenes slender, finely-ribbed, tipped 

 by a circle of whitish, plumose bristles. In dry, open ground. 

 October and November. Easily distinguished from ColeosantJius 

 riddellii by the very narrowly linear leaves. Named for Kuhn, 

 an American botanist. 



Gymnosperma corymbosa DC. 



Erect, smooth, yellow-topped, fall flowering plants, 1 to 3' 

 tall, with stems woody below and fastigiately branched above. 

 Leaves simple, alternate. Blades narrow, entire, 1 to 2" long, 

 glistening, the lower ones 3-nerved. Flowers composite, yellow, 

 less than y± inch across, consisting of 5 to 9 tiny, inconspicuous 

 ray flowers and less than 10 tubular disk flowers. October and 

 November. Gravel pits and dry rocky soil of the Edwards 

 Plateau. Often mistaken for Broomweed but the flowers are 

 smaller, the rays are not conspicuous, and the slender leaves are 

 decidedly resinous. 



Gutierrezia texana (DC.) Torr. & Gray. Broomweed. 



Stiff, bushy, intricately branched, yellow, fall-flowering 

 weeds, 6 to 18 inches tall. Leaves simple, alternate. Blades 

 narrow, entire, y 2 to 2 inches long. Flowers yellow, composite, 

 less than y± across, blossoming a few at a time all over the tips 

 of the branches. Ray flowers few. Disk flowers tubular, 16 

 to 20. One of our most common weeds. It derives its popular 

 name from the use the Mexicans give it in tying it in bunches to 

 use in sweeping sidewalks, yards and streets. Blossoms from 

 July until late November. A few plants always survive the cold 

 and go on blossoming into January and February. Named for 

 Gutierrez, a Spanish nobleman. 



