Waxleaf Goldenweed

Grindelia ciliata (Nuttall) Sprengel

(formerly Grindelia papposa G.L. Nesom & Suh)

Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

▲ seedlings

▲ ▼ mature, flowering plants

▲ ▼ stems and leaves, showing ciliate leaf margins

▲ ▼ plants initiating flowering

▲ ▼ flower/head buds with broad lanceolate to triangular bracts below head

▲ ▼ flowers/inflorescences

▲ ▼ colonies of plants along roadsides in western Kansas

Grindelia ciliata (Nuttall) Sprengel, Waxleaf Goldenweed, Spanish Gold, (formerly Grindelia papposa G.L. Nesom & Suh): (Bayer Code: GRNCI; US Code GRCI4)

A U.S. native annual, biennial or short-lived perennial with round, light-green to yellow-green or straw-colored stems that grow 0.5-4.5 feet tall, with branching mainly in the upper 1/2 to 1/3 of plant
Leaves are glossy, thick-textured, alternate oval-lanceolate, with toothed margins and round-pointed tip; leaf bases clasp around stem; teeth on leaf extend out to hair-like extensions (“ciliate," hence the Latin specific epithet, “ciliata")
Head inflorescences are at stem tips, 1-2 inches diameter, with 25-45 yellow ray flowers (“petals") and many yellow disk flowers
Bracts below the inflorescence are bright green, elongated triangular to lanceolate, in several overlapping rows, and the tips of the bracts spread out from the base of the inflorescence, and are slightly to moderately resinous (gummy)
Flowers late summer through mid-autumn
Found in dry, disturbed soil, fields, pastures, prairies, rangeland, right-of-ways, non-cropland
Can accumulate selenium in high-selenium soils, leading to selenium toxicity, if grazed; is generally not palatable to livestock due to resins and other chemicals in plant
Can distinguish from similar Curlycup Gumweed (Grindelia squarrosa) by the curled bracts below the inflorescence on curlycup gumweed, and the presence of more resin glands on the leaves and bracts of the plant; also leaf teeth do not have the hair-like extensions

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