Common names:
Tasselflower brickellbush, large-flowered brickelbush
Scientific name:
Brickellia grandiflora
Range:
Scattered areas across most of the West; concentrated in the Four Corners states
Height:
Between 1 and 3 feet
Habitat:
Canyons, wooded hillsides, roadsides; 4,000 to 10,000 feet
Leaves:
Triangular, on stalks, with toothed or wavy edges, pointed tips and rounded base corners, up to 5 inches long
Flowers of brickellia grandiflora are somewhat unremarkable, consisting only of thin, tubular disc florets (20 to 20), pale yellow or greenish in color, which hang downwards in small clusters from the top of a lightly branched stem. Stamens and a branched style protrude beyond the end of the florets when mature. Flower heads are ringed by between 30 to 40 ovate phyllaries in several distinct rows, cream colored (sometimes becoming purplish) with green stripes; the tips are pointed and the margins ciliate.
Stems and leaves have a very fine hair covering (puberulent). All leaves are glandular; those towards the base have an opposite arrangement while those further up the stem are alternate.