Carnegiea gigantea, Giant Saguaro

Southwest Desert Flora

Home to the plants of the Sonoran, Chihuahuan and Mojave Deserts

Cirsium ochrocentrum, Yellowspine Thistle

Thelesperma megapotamicum, Hopi Tea Greenthread

Hopi Tea Greenthread has yellow flowers that may have by contrasted with red-brown nerves running through it. Thelesperma megapotamicum Hopi Tea Greenthread bracts or phyllaries surrounding floral heads are purplish with yellow or white along the margins and they are fused together below the middle as shown in the photograph. Thelesperma megapotamicum Hopi Tea Greenthread has light green leaves growing mostly along lower ½ to ¾ of the stems; the leaves are pinnately divided into linear to filiform lobes and arranged oppositely along stems. Thelesperma megapotamicum Hopi Tea Greenthread blooms from April, May to October and prefers elevations from 1,000 to 9,500 feet (305-2,896 m). Plants prefer higher elevations, mountains, various vegetative communities, sandy or clay-rich soils and disturbed areas. Thelesperma megapotamicum

Scientific Name: Thelesperma megapotamicum
Common Name: Hopi Tea Greenthread

Also Called: Green Thread, Green Threads, Hopitea Greenthread, Rayless Greenthread, Wild Tea

Family: Asteraceae, Sunflower Family

Synonyms: (Bidens megapotamica, Thelesperma gracile)

Status: Native

Duration: Perennial from creeping rhizomes.

Size: 1 to 2.5 feet (30-76 cm) tall or more.

Growth Form: Forb/herb to subshrub; growth from a woody caudex or creeping rhizomes; plants upright (erect); slender brittle stems, hairless (glabrous) and glaucous.

Leaves: Light green; leaves growing mostly along lower ½ to ¾ of the stems; leaves pinnately divided into linear to filiform lobes; leaves arranged oppositely along stems.

Flower Color: Yellow, some with red-brown nerves; flowers on long growing stems (peduncles) on tips of branching stems; usually disk florets, occasionally a ray flower in observed; bracts or phyllaries surrounding floral heads are purplish with yellow or white along the margins and they are fused together below the middle as shown in the photograph above; fruit is a cypsela.

Flowering Season: April, May to October

Elevation: 1,000 to 9,500 feet (305-2,896 m)

Habitat Preferences: Higher elevations, mountains, various vegetative communities, sandy or clay-rich soils and disturbed areas.

Recorded Range: Hopi Tea Greenthread is widespread, found throughout much of the central western ⅔ of the United States. It is also native to northern Mexico in Chihuahua and Coahuila and south to South America. In the southwest it is found in greatest numbers in AZ, CO, NM and TX with a small number in CA and UT.

North America & US County Distribution Map for Thelesperma megapotamicum.

North America species range map for Hopi Tea Greenthread, Thelesperma megapotamicum:

Hopi Tea Greenthread, Thelesperma megapotamicum: Click image for full size map.
Click image for full size map

U.S. Weed Information: Unknown
Invasive/Noxious Weed Information: Unknown
Wetland Indicator: Unknown
Threatened/Endangered Information: Unknown

Genus Information: In North America there are 12 species and 3 accepted taxa overall for Thelesperma. Worldwide, The Plant List includes 13 accepted species names and a further 2 scientific names of infraspecific rank for Thelesperma.

The genus Thelesperma was published in 1831 by Christian Friedrich Lessing (1809-1862).

The genus Thelesperma, is closely related to the genus Bidens which also has species used as herbs by Native Americans. Bidens megapotamicum is a synonym of Thelesperma megapotamicum.

In the Southwestern United States: Arizona and Utah each have 4 species of genus, California and Nevada each have 1 species, New Mexico has 6 species and Texas has 9 species. Data approximate, subject to revision.

Comments: Species of the genus Thelesperma are herbs and used to make tea and used as a medicinal by several North American indigenous tribes especially in the southwest. One similar species, Navajo Tea, Thelesperma subnudum is boiled and used by the Navajo Nation to make tea and red-brown and orange dye.

The common name "Greenthread" of plants from this genus is because of the linear, threadlike appearance of the slender green stems and flowering stalks.

The photo above was taken June 17, at Monument Valley, Navajo County, Arizona.

Importance to Wildlife, Birds and Livestock
Hopi Tea Greenthread, Thelesperma megapotamicum has small but attractive flowers, the flowers and their seeds may be visited by hummingbirds and/or small mammals including rodents and granivorous birds in search of nectar or food.

Beneficial Value to Butterflies, Honey Bees and Insects
Hopi Tea Greenthread, Thelesperma megapotamicum has small but attractive flowers, the flowers and their plants may be visited by butterflies, moths, flies, honeybees, Native Bees and other insects in search of food and nectar.

Etymology:
The genus “Thelesperma” (Thelesper'ma:) is from the Greek thele, "nipple," and sperma, "seed," and referring to the roughened achenes.

The genus Thelesperma was published in 1831 by Christian Friedrich Lessing (1809-1862).

The species epithet megapotamicum (megapotam'icum:) is from the Greek megas, "big or great," potamos, "river," and the adjectival suffix -icum, denoting a state of belonging to.

Ethnobotany
Hopi Tea Greenthread, Thelesperma megapotamicum is used for a multitude of purposes by southwestern United States indigenous peoples.
  • Apache, Chiricahua & Mescalero Food, Beverage; Fresh or stored portions boiled in water and liquid consumed with or without sugar; Leaves and young stems boiled to make a non-intoxicating beverage.
  • Hopi Dye, Red-Brown; Beverages; Flowers used as a reddish brown dye for basket making yucca fibers; Used to make a fine reddish-brown basketry and textile dye; Flowers and tips of young leaves dried, boiled and used to make tea; Flowers used to make a beverage; Used to make coffee.
  • Keres, Western Drug, Pediatric Aid, Tuberculosis; Food, Beverage; Plant formerly used for children with tuberculosis; Plant formerly used for children with tuberculosis; Infusion of plant used as a beverage.
  • Keresan Food, Beverage; Leaves and roots boiled to make tea.
  • Navajo Drug, Stimulant; Toothache Remedy; Infusion of leaves and stems taken as a 'nervous stimulant;.'Infusion of leaves and stems taken for the teeth.
  • Navajo Food, Substitution Food; Ramah Dye, Orange-Yellow; Food Beverage; Leaves and stems used as a substitute for tea; Boiled roots used as an orange-yellow dye for wool; Decoction of leaves and flowers, with lots of sugar, used as a tea.
  • Tewa Food, Beverage; Leaves steeped and the tea drunk as a beverage.

  • See complete listing of ethno-botanical uses at Native American Ethnobotany, University of Michigan, Dearborn.

    Date Profile Completed: 10/24/2012; updated 10/25/2020
    References:
    Arizona Flora, Kearney, Thomas H., Peebles, Robert H., 1960, University of California Press, Berkley and Los Angeles
    U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service on-line database and USGS ITIS search; accessed 11/25/2020.
    https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=THME#
    The Plant List (2013). Version 1.1. Published on the Internet; http://www.theplantlist.org/; accessed 11/25/2020.
    http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/search?q=Thelesperma
    John L. Strother, Flora of North America; Asteraceae; Thelesperma; 5. Thelesperma megapotamicum (Sprengel) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 3(2): 182. 1898.; Flora of North America North of Mexico. 16+ vols. New York and Oxford.
    David J. Keil 2012, Thelesperma megapotamicum, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora,
    https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=5359, accessed on November 25, 2020.
    FNA 2006, Martin and Hutchins 1980, Heil et al. 2013; Editors: S.Buckley 2010, F.S.Coburn 2015, A.Hazelton 2017; from SEINet Field Guide, on-line; accessed 11/25/2020.
    https://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=2088&clid=57
    Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Traditional Medicine, Portland, Oregon; GREENTHREAD: NAVAJO-HOPI TEA; Accessed 11/26/2020
    http://www.itmonline.org/arts/greenthread.htm
    Wikipedia contributors, 'Thelesperma megapotamicum', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 June 2020, 16:44 UTC,
    https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thelesperma_megapotamicum&oldid=963933216 [accessed 25 November 2020]
    Seiler, John, Peterson, John, North American species range map courtesy of Virginia Tech, Dept. of Forest Resources & Environmental Conservation
    http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/
    SEINet synonyms, scientific names, geographic locations, general information.
    http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/
    Etymology:Michael L. Charters California Plant Names: Latin and Greek Meanings and Derivations; A Dictionary of Botanical and Biographical Etymology - (accessed 11/25/2020)
    http://www.calflora.net/botanicalnames/pageT.html
    http://www.calflora.net/botanicalnames/pageMA-ME.html
    IPNI (2020). International Plant Names Index. Published on the Internet http://www.ipni.org, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries and Australian National Botanic Gardens. [Retrieved 25 November 2020].
    https://www.ipni.org/n/30008263-2