Rafinesquia neomexicana (Desert chicory)

Rafinesquia neomexicana A. Gray

Desert chicory, California chicory, New Mexico plumeseed

Desert chicory is native to western North America.

Plants: This chicory species is 6–20″ (15–50 cm) in height. Stems are erect, smooth, and gray-green in color. Sap is milky.

Leaves: Dark or gray green, up to six inches long near the base, getting shorter further up the stem.

Flowers: About 1½″ (3.8 cm) wide, white, tinged violet on the undersides. Outer petals have five deep serrations at the petal ends, typical of chicories.

Fruits: Cypselae are ⅜–⅝″ (1.2–1.8 cm) in size, supported by hairy “parachutes” of 15-21 pappi.

Habitats: Creosote bush scrub, Joshua tree woodland, below 4600′ (1.4 km).

Online References:

Southeastern Arizona Wildflowers and the Plants of the Sonoran Desert

CalPhotos at the University of California, Berkeley

Oceanlight.com, a natural history stock photography site by Phillip Colla

Wikimedia Commons

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Wnmu.edu

SEINet—the Southwest Environmental Information Network

Flora of North America

Blue flowers are Phacelia distans. · 2/28/2010 · Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California · ≈ 11 × 7″ (27 × 18 cm)

2/28/2010 · Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California · ≈ 9 × 6″ (23 × 15 cm)

2/28/2010 · Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California · ≈ 4½ × 4″ (12 × 10 cm)

2/28/2010 · Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California · ≈ 14 × 9″ (35 × 23 cm)

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin)
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Asteridae	A large class that encompasses asters
Order	Asterales	Flowering plants with a central disk flower and surrounding petals, like daisies
Family	Asteraceae	The aster family, which also includes daisies and sunflowers; from the Greek ἀστήρ, “star,” for the star-shaped flowers
Genus	Rafinesquia	Named for polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, who made contributions to anthropology, biology, geology, and linquistics
Species	neomexicana	“Of or from New Mexico”

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Range:

About this map...

Rafinesquia neomexicana description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.