Leaves: Green; dull, leaves arranged generally oppositely along stems; leaves fascicled on older growth; lower leaves oblong-spatulate, upper leaves oblong to linear; blades without supporting stems or stalks (sessile); leaf edges or margins smooth, not lobed or toothed (entire).
Flower Color: White, purplish throats; flowering heads solitary or 2 or more in clusters from leaf axils or terminal on branch tips; disk flowers only; fruit a cypsela, yellow-green to golden brown, pappusscales brownish to purplish.
Flowering Season: January to July; may bloom again in late winter.
Elevation: 2,500 to 7,000 feet (760-2,100 m).
Recorded Range: Bigelow's Bristlehead is relatively rare in the United States where it is found mostly only in Arizona and also in southwest New Mexico and far western Texas. It is also native to northwestern Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sonora).
North America species range map for Carphochaete bigelovii:
North American range map courtesy of Virginia Tech, Dept. of Forest Resources & Environmental Conservation
Click image for full size map
Recorded Range: Limited distribution in the United States. Found only in AZ, NM and TX; Southwest NM and southwest TX. Found also in northern and central Mexico. In the U.S. it is most prevalent in Arizona where it occurs in the central, eastern and southern parts of the state.
Genus Information: In North America there is 1 species and 1 accepted taxa overall for Carphochaete. World wide, The Plant List includes 6 accepted species names and includes a further 1 name of infraspecific rank for the genus.
In the Southwestern United States: Arizona, New Mexico and Texas each have 1 species of Carphochaete, California, Nevada and Utah have 0 species. All data is approximate and subject to taxonomic changes.
Comments: Bigelow’s Bristlehead is a monotypic species in the United States, unique to the southwest and Mexico.
Importance to Wildlife, Birds and Livestock
Tiny seeds of Carphochaete bigelovii may possibly be eaten by birds and small mammals.
Special Value to Native Bees, Butterflies and Insects
Carphochaete bigelovii flowers may be visited by butterflies, bees and other small insects.
Etymology:
The genus Carphochaete is derived from two Greek words karphos", meaning "a small dry object, splinter, twig" and "chaete" meaning long bristle; a reference to its' stiff bristles.
The species epithetbigelovii is named in honor of Dr. John Milton Bigelow, American physician and botanist (1804-1878); Dr. Bigelovii was a professor of botany who collected in the western United States under Joseph Whipple Congdon in the Pacific Railroad Survey of 1853-1854. In addition, he worked with 3 top American botanists of the day, John Torrey, Asa Gray, and George Engelmann; and had a significant collection of California plants that yielded many new species.
