Zinnia acerosa

Common Name: Desert Zinnia
Oˊodham Name: [unknown]
Group: Shrubs － Desert

Description

Zinnia acerosa is a small shrub having flexible woody stems covered with small, linear dull green leaves during Springtime and during the Monsoon. During the dry season, the flowers drop, leaving a tangled mass of woody stems. In Springtime, the shrub is completely covered by 1-inch wide white flowers which persist on the stems for months as they dry before falling off. It grows in gravelly soils at 2000 to 5000 ft elevation.

entire plant
flowers in May
entire plant (winter)
flowers
leaves and flower

Classification

Kingdom Plantae － Plants

Subkingdom Tracheobionta － Vascular plants

Superdivision Spermatophyta － Seed plants

Division Magnoliophyta － Flowering plants

Class Magnoliopsida － Dicotyledons

Subclass Asteridae

Order Asterales

Family Asteraceae － Aster family

Genus Zinnia L. － zinnia

Species Zinnia acerosa (DC.) A. Gray － desert zinnia

More Information

USDA Plant Profile and Map