Madia glomerata (Tarweed) - photos and description


15 cm ruler for scale

 

 


Typical flower heads shown above, each with only 1 or two ray florets

 

 

General: A sticky, aromatic annual, with an upright growth habit, stems usually simple. Foliage is pale-green. Plants strongly scented (I thought they smelled like basil). Entire plants pubescent, upper stems are glandular hairy.

Flowers: Flower heads grow in terminal or axillary clusters, the flower heads are very sticky with glandular hairs. Flower heads are yellow, have 1-5 (or no) ray florets, the ray florets are 3-lobed. We measured ray florets to 3 mm long.

Leaves:  The leaves are cauline, the lowest pair of leaves are often opposite, the rest are alternate. The leaves are sessile, linear, entire. The leaf highlighted above was measured at 6 cm long and 6 mm wide. Lower leaves pubescent, upper leaves glandular hairy.

Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 50 cm, we measured plants to 61 cm tall.

Habitat: Dry, open areas, coulee slopes.

Abundance: Fairly common, ranked as an S4 by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre. We've only seen it growing in the Cypress upland of southwestern Saskatchewan.

Origin: Native.

When and where photographed: Photos taken on August 10th, along a dried up prairie creek, and coulee hillside, Cypress Hills about 450 km southwest of our home in Regina, SK.