Mesa Tansey-Aster
Machaeranthera tagetina
Saguaro National Park East, Rincon Mountain foothills, Pima Co., Arizona. 28 Aug 2016.
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RANGE: This is the common purple aster of summer ranging into grassland and juniper habitats.
FLOWERS: About a dozen dark purple florets and a disc of
central yellow florets. Phyllaries in several series enclosing the flower head.
Tips are pointed, almost spine-tipped. Numerous gland-tipped hairs.
LEAVES: Upper leaves usually linear whereas the lower leaves may be dissected into
a few linear segments.
ANNUAL: Herbaceous plants appearing after summer rains and blooming late summer into fall.
Mostly less than
50 cm.
FRUIT: The slightly flattened seeds are topped with a pappus of fine whitish
bristles.
UNARMED.