Rabbit Brush (Chrysothamnus nauseous), which thrives in grasslands, open woodlands and dry open places with sagebrush, is the most abundant wildflower you'll find this time of year. It's a shrubby thing, with slender erect branches. These are covered with a felt of dense, matted hairs. The leaves are very narrow, and the yellow flower heads are comprised of small, rayless flowers growing in dense clusters at the ends of the stem. The entire plant grows as tall as seven feet.
It is a member of the ubiquitous Aster Family (Asteraceae), and the genus is only found in western North America. It has also been known as Golden Rabbit Brush, Rubber Rabbit Brush, False Goldenrod and Chamiso blanco.
The most drought-tolerant of the globemallows, Desert Globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua), can also be found late in the season, usually along roadsides and banks of sandy washes. This member of the Mallow Family (Malvaceae), which actually can be found blooming somewhere any time of the year, usually has bright orange flowers that are favored by bees. It's as startling for its color as California Fuchsia.
Of course the Alpine Asters, Gentians and Shooting Stars are all found at higher elevations, where the growing season is on a whole 'nother clock.
Alpine Gentian (Gentiana newberryi) usually produces white flowers with a hint of blue. They are a surprising find, tucked away among the grass of a mountain meadow, or hugging the ground above the timberline.
Alpine Asters (Aster alpigenus), or Dwarf Purple Aster is another mountain meadow flower. Like its many eastern counterparts, it has a central disk of yellow disk flowers, ringed with purple ray flowers.
Alpine Shooting Stars (Dodecatheon alpinum), like their cousins, have lovely pink petals that curve backward, exposing their unmentionables (stamens). And like the preceding couple of flowers, they can be found in moist mountain meadows.
It is autumn, and throughout North America botany is going through changes that rival a boy in puberty. It is a much prettier sight, however and in the southwest, the wildflowers are out there, they've just scattered themselves about a little more, in high mountain meadows and dry, duty places at lower elevations.
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