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Asteraceae
Rabbit Brush Flower
Ericameria nauseosa
Resilience in arid lands and golden autumn.
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Genus
- Ericameria
- Native to
- western North America
- Bloom season
- Late Summer, Autumn
- Type
- deciduous shrub
- Height
- 30–200 cm
- Sunlight
- full sun
- Soil
- dry, sandy, alkaline
- Water
- very low; extremely drought-tolerant
- Hardiness
- 4–9
- Lifespan
- perennial shrub; 10–20 years
Did you know
- Rabbitbrush blooms when almost nothing else does, providing critical late-season nectar for pollinators.
- The species name 'nauseosa' refers to the pungent smell of crushed foliage, not nausea.
- Native Americans extracted a yellow dye from the flowers and a green dye from the stems.
- During WWII, rabbitbrush was studied as a domestic rubber source because its latex contains hydrocarbons.
- It colonizes disturbed land aggressively, often being the first shrub to appear after wildfires.
Color meanings
Yellow
desert endurance and late-season hope