Seepwillow - Baccharis salicifolia
Percha Creek Box
East of Hillsboro
New Mexico
July 30, 2015
We found this blooming Seepwillow, Baccharis salicifolia, in the Percha Box last Wednesday. Seepwillow is also known as Willow Baccharis, Water-wally, and Mule’s Fat. Scientific synonyms include B. glutinosa, B. viminea, and Molina salicifolia. “Salicifolia” means willow-leaved, but this plant is not a willow, it is a member of the aster family. This species is distinguished from the very similar Baccharis salicina by the fact that in this species, the mature leaves are serrated along their entire length.
Various Native American tribes used this plant for medicinal purposes.
The range of this species, within the United States, is shown to the right. The light green color indicates that the species is native and not rare in those counties. (Yellow indicates that it is native and rare.) It is also found in Mexico and in parts of South America.
This is one of the desert riparian species. We found it growing either on the banks of Percha Creek or in Percha Creek.
This species was first described by Hipólito Ruiz López and José Antonio Pavón Jiménez. They were Spanish botanists who were on the first Spanish botanical expedition to the Americas (to Chile and Peru in 1777-78).
