California Brickellbush - Brickellia californica
Ready Pay Gulch - Pink Canyon
East of Hillsboro, NM, USA
This blooming California Brickellbush, Brickellia californica, was in Ready Pay Gulch (Pink Canyon) east of Hillsboro, New Mexico in late September of 2014. It has a range which extends through most of the western United States (being absent in Oregon, Washington, and Montana) as well as Oklahoma, Texas, and Baja California. A description of the species can be found at Flora of North America.
This species was first described as Bulbostylis californica by John Torrey & Asa Gray, in Flora of North America, Part 2, page 79, in 1841. In their original description they raised the possibility that it was "perhaps not sufficiently distinct from Brickellia".
A cold infusion of the leaves of this plant was taken by the Navajo for colds and fever.
