Yellow Wildflower Guide

Skunkbush (Rhus aromatica) is a good size shrub that can sprawl or be more upright. In the spring there are clusters of yellow flowers which become tart red berries, beloved by birds and traditionally used by people for centuries. The fall is most spectacular with the three lobed leaves turning gold, orange, red, and burgundy before falling. Cashew Family Anacardiaceae. Blooms March-May.

 

Fendler's Spring Parsley (Cymopterus glomeratus) starts with dark green glossy divided leaves in a low lying rosette. The tightly packed yellow umbel of yellow blossoms begins in a package of bracts, opening to fluffy flowers. This is a member of the carrot family and resembled its purple cousin, biscuit root. Carrot Family Apiaceae. Blooms April-August (usually finishes by May here.

 

Common Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is the original species from which many cultivated hybrids sprang. The seeds supply many animals’ food and are a traditional food for Southwestern people. The golden ray flowers are large, and the big center consists of many brown disk flowers. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms June-September.

 

Prairie sunflower (Helianthus petiolaris) is a daintier version of its better known cousin. The plant is smaller, the leaves lanceolate, the blooms made up of golden ray florets and brownish disc flowers. The seeds are an important source of food for many animals, particularly birds.
Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae
Blooms July through October

 

False Hairy Golden Aster (Heterotheca villosa) is a tough perennial with a spicy scent. Drought doesn’t affect it, but it is also opportunistic, often growing alongside roads that offer night warmth and moisture. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms May-October.

 

Fineleaf Woollywhite (Hymenopappus filifolius), a member of Asteraceae (Sunflower Family), have yellow button blooms made up only of disk flowers. The leaves are pale and highly divided, forming a mound near the bottom of many long stems. Blooms May-August.

 

Collegeflower (Hymenopappus flavescens var. canotomentosus) features a tall stem that overshadows many of the plants around it, terminating in a large umbel of golden buttons of disk flowers. The feathery leaves form a basal rosette with fewer climbing the stem. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms May-August.

 

Loomis' Thimblehead (Hymenothrix loomisii) is tall with lots of fluffy highly dissected leaves on the lower half. The blossoms consist of white, cream, to yellow disc flowers with large corolla lobes, borne in open panicles at the top of the plant. These annuals to perennials can form large colonies along the park road. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms August-October.

 

Rusby's Goldenbush (Isocoma rusbyi) forms rounded shrubs with a woody base when mature and tan upright stems. The narrow leaves are hairless but can be resinous. The terminal clusters of golden blooms are mostly discoid. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms July-September.

 

Desert Dandelion (Malacothrix sonchoides) may look similar to the non-native dandelion, but it is actually one of four native dandelions in the genus Malacothrix. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms May-September.

 

New Mexico Groundsel (Packera neomexicana) was once park of the Senecio genus but moved due to recent research. This sturdy plant has serrated paddle-shaped leaves at the base with umbels of sunny yellow daisies on top. There are four varieties of this species in Arizona. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms May and June.

 

Greenstem paperflower (Psilostrophe sparsiflora) is similar to its relative P. tagetina but more gracile, less wool. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms May-September.

 

Woolly Paperflower (Psilostrophe tagetina) is a shrub-like perennial. The green stems with small leaves are topped by bright gold blossoms. Each consist of a few lobed ray flowers and a few disk flowers. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms May-September.

 

Upright Prairie Coneflower (Ratibida columnifera) is a perennial. The ray flowers tend to droop down while the disc flowers form a large, upright cone. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms June-September.

 

Threadleaf Groundsel (Senecio flaccidus) can be relatively tall and shrub-like. The narrow leaves and stems are a blue-gray due to fine hairs, all topped by cheery golden daisies. The blossoms consist of central disk flowers and a few ray flowers. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms May-September.

 

Broom-like Ragwort (Senecio spartioides) has an airy habit with upright stems and green, narrow leaves, lower ones often dying as the flowers appear. The yellow daisy flowers are in loose, flat-topped clusters and turn into fluffy puffs. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms June-October.

 

Stemless Four-nerved Daisy (Tetraneuris acaulis) is a cheerful yellow daisy on a leafless stem a little longer than the basal rosette of lanceolate leaves. The phyllaries under/behind the petals can be quite fuzzy with hints of red. The notched petals and the over-lapping rows (two or three) of hairy and broadly lanceolate phyllaries are very attractive characteristics. The leaves are a bit succulent with glands. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms May-July.

 

Ives' Four-Nerve Daisy (Tetraneuris ivesiana) is another perky sue with shorter basal leaves and stems. In rocky areas the basal rosette may be very small. Some flowers may have splashes of white. The notched petals, the even rows of green, finger-like phyllaries, and the densely hairy stems are diagnostic characteristics. The leaves are narrow and pointed. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms May-September.

 

Spineless Horsebrush (Tetradymia canescens) is a silvery shrub. The minute leaves look similar to the flower buds. The flowers—four disk florets each—are small but many giving a golden glaze to the exterior of the shrub before becoming tan fluff. The seeds are dispersed by wind. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms June-August.

 

Greenthread (Thelesperma megapotamicum) has tall, slender, little-branching stems. The button blooms consist of golden disk flowers. The entire plant is very useful culturally, particularly as a naturally sweet tea. This plant can look similar to woolly whites, but the flowers tend to be on separate stems and there isn’t a large fluffy basal rosette. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms May-July.

 

Yellow Salsify (Tragopogon dubius) is an invasive, non-native originally brought here for its edible root. The large yellow flowers turn into huge fluffy puffballs. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms May-September.

 

Golden Crownbeard (Verbesina encelioides) is a common, but cheerfully pretty yellow. It often grows in disturbed earth and along roadsides. They can be annual to perennial and form large colonies. The stems and leaves are hairy. The seeds have nifty horseshoe shapes. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms May-October.

 

Saw-toothed Goldenweed (Xanthisma grindelioides) is a small cluster of saw-toothed leaves on upright stems. The end of the stem has the rayless bloom of yellow disk flowers. Phyllaries have sticky glands that often trap debris. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms May-August.

 

Plains Zinnia (Zinnia grandiflora) form distinct clumps often near others of its kind. The leaves are very narrow, making a nice green backdrop for the golden flowers. The rounded ray flowers droop a bit, surrounding the red-orange disk flowers. Sunflower, Daisy, Aster, and Allies Family Asteraceae. Blooms June-August.

 

Fringed Puccoon (Lithospermum incisum) is a member of the Boraginaceae (Forget-Me-Not Family). The lemony yellow fringed trumpet flowers are bright against the lanceolate darker green leaves. It is a long bloomer until the heat of summer builds.Blooms March-July

 

Yellow Cryptantha (Oreocarya flava) is a member of Boraginaceae (Forget-Me-Not Family). Similar to O. fulvocanescens, the entire flower is yellow. The lanceolate leaves form a soft mound beneath the upright flower spikes, the dead leaves leftover from last year underneath. Blooms March-July

 

The multiple native and one non-native Descurainia species in the Four Corners area are not easy to identify. Each species has variability and possibly interbreed. Species may be defined by the divisions in their leaves, shape and size of their fruit (siliques), and amount and types of hairs. That all being said, here is a Tansy Mustard (Descurainia sp.).
Mustard Family Brassicaceae
Blooms February-September

 

Western Wallflower (Erysimum capitatum) can be quite variable. Typically, the tall stem rises from basal rosettes to a cluster of four-petalled (cruciform) gold flowers. They can form large colonies to the delight of bees.
Mustard Family Brassicaceae
Blooms April-August

 

Arizona Bladderpod (Physaria arizonica) is a small, mounded perennial with ovoid fruits and four-petaled gold flowers. Linear gray-green leaves with tiny stellate hairs. Hair also on pods. Like most plants at this spot, wind-swept into a ground hugging mound. Several others nearby.
Mustard Family Brassicaceae
Blooms April-May

 

Fendler's Bladderpod (Physaria fendleri) is part of a genus best defined by mature pods (silicles), rounded in this case. The leaves are narrow and covered with stellate (starburst) hairs. The clusters of yellow four-petaled (cruciform) flowers grow towards the ends of the stems. The habit of the plant can vary by the type of ground on which it grows.
Mustard Family Brassicaceae
Blooms April-July

 

Prince’s Plume (Stanleya pinnata) is a spectacular member of the Brassicaceae (Mustard Family) with long flowering stems (up to five feet tall!) and a firework display of yellow blossoms. Thriving in selenium rich soil, the plant can have a bit of a stench. Most of the leaves below the flower clusters are linear or lanceolate.
Blooms April-September

 

Starvation Prickly Pear (Opuntia polyacantha) is the most common of the prickly pears in the park. The small, low growing pads are covered with long spines. The silky flowers vary even on the same plant from bright yellow through champagne to hot pink.
Cactus Family Cactaceae
Bloom May-July

 

Whipple's Fishhook Cactus (Sclerocactus whipplei) is a small globular cactus, here in a cluster. The petals are translucent butter yellow.
Cactus Family Cactaceae
Bloom April-June

 

Sand Mat Euphorbia (Euphorbia fendleri) is a ground-cover, similar to others in the genus. The “flower” is actually a cyathium, a cup-like structure with a central pistillate flower surrounded by several staminate flowers. The yellow and green lobes are actually part of the cyathium. When fertilized, the pistillate flower swells, and hangs out of the cyathium.
Spurge Family Euphorbiaceae
Bloom May-September

 

Gladiator Vetch (Astragalus xiphoides) is a rare plant of special concern in Arizona. This very airy little vetch has slender nearly leafless stems. The bilateral flowers are small and sparse, yellow with maroon calyx.
Legume Family Fabaceae
Bloom April-June

 

Common Dunebroom (Parryella filifolia) is a legume that forms large fluffy shrubs. The many leaves are lacy compounds with tiny leaflets. The blooming cluster consists of tiny yellow florets with yellow calyxes and showy stamen, no petals. The seed pods are covered with round gem-like glands.
Legume Family Fabaceae
Bloom June-September

 

James' Holdback (Pomaria jamesii) is an interesting perennial sprawling amidst the prairie grasses, the pretty yellow, freckled flowers lifting their curled petals in upward racemes. The sturdy taproot provides a means of obtaining moisture in this semi-arid region. Much of the hairy plant has black punctate glands, giving a polka-dotted appearance, particularly on the flat pods.
Legume Family Fabaceae
Bloom May-September

 

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