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Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Shrubs Around Las Vegas, Vegetation Around Las Vegas
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)

General: Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi) is a low growing, subshrub with short, upright stems, yellow flowers, and spiky leaves. The leaves and phyllaries have oil glands. The plant is generally inconspicuous on the landscape, but when brushed or stepped on, it releases a pungent odor.

Cooper's Dogweed is a fairly component of vegetation communities on well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils in washes and on upper bajadas and moderate slopes into the lower mountains in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) life zones.

Family: Sunflower (Asteraceae).

Other Names:

Plant Form: Low-growing, mounded subshrub.

Height: To about 18 inches, usually lower.

Bark: Smooth, green.

Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Phyllaries overlap, linear, each with a gland

Stems: Upright, branching

Leaves: Alternate, sessile, stiff, to about 1 inch long. Oblanceolate with lobes. Lobes with spines. Base of leaf with two glands, one more at the tip.

Flowers: Blooms in spring. Inflorescence: flowerhead with disk and ray flowers. Phyllaries overlap, linear, each with a gland. Ray flowers 7 to 13, about 1/3 inch long, yellow to red-orange. Ray flowers often look narrower than might be expected. Disk flowers many; yellow.

Seeds: Achene.

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on upper bajadas and moderate slopes in the lower mountains.

Elevation: About 2,000 to 5,000 ft.

Distribution: Southern California to northwestern Arizona.

Comments: Very stinky plant.

Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi) Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi) Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Fresh leaves in the spring
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Flowerheads tend to persist on summer-dried plants
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi) Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi) Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi) Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Lower leaves with prominent spines
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Upper leaves with reduced spines
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Leaves: lobed with spines
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Glands on leaves
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi) Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Aging flowers
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Phyllaries with glands
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Phyllaries with glands
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Phyllaries with glands
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Flower yellow
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Flower yellow-orange, often narrower than expected
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Aging flower
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Aging flower
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Aging flower and developing seeds
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Developing seeds
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Ripe seeds
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Ripe seeds
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Ripe seeds
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Receptacle and phyllaries persist into the winter
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Glands remain obvious on old flowerhead
Cooper's Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi)
Old flowerheads tend to persist

Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate. Names generally follow the USDA database.
copyright; Last updated 240912

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