Ericameria nauseosa

Ericameria nauseosa is a perennial shrub growing to 2 to 8 metres (6+1⁄2 to 26 feet).[3] The leaves, depending on the subspecies, are 2–7.5 centimetres (3⁄4–3 inches) long[4] and narrow to spatula-shaped. Both the flexible (rubbery) stems and the leaves are greenish-gray with a soft felt-like covering.[5]

It blooms from August to October[6] and produces pungent-smelling, golden-yellow flowers. The flower heads are 6–13 millimetres (1⁄4–1⁄2 in) long[4] and made up of 5 small, yellow, tubular disk flowers, and occur in umbrella-shaped terminal clusters.[7][5] The shrub reproduces from seeds and root sprouts.[5]

Rubber rabbitbrush was moved from the genus Chrysothamnus to the genus Ericameria in a 1993 paper.[2] The findings of a 2003 phylogenetic investigation of Ericameria were consistent with the move of the species to Ericameria.[8] The second edition of the Jepson plant manual[9] and the United States Department of Agriculture's Germplasm Resources Information Network[10] have adopted the name Ericameria nauseosa.

The specific epithet means 'heavy scented'.[11]

It grows in the arid regions of western Canada, western United States (from the western Great Plains to the Pacific) and northern Mexico.[14]

Along with associated species, like big sage and western wheat grass, rubber rabbitbrush is only lightly or occasionally used by herbivores during the summer. However, it can be heavily used during the winter when other food sources are scarce and on depleted rangelands.[15][16] Some of the species that consume it include mule deer, elk, pronghorns, and black-tailed jackrabbits. It is considered poor forage for almost all domestic animals, though sheep are reported to consume significant amounts of it in Utah.[15] It is also frequently used as shelter by jackrabbits.[17] Dense stands of this species often grow on poorly managed rangelands, in disturbed areas along roadways and on abandoned agricultural property.[16]

The species often occurs with Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus.[11]

Rabbitbrush, Ericameria nauseosa, has gained popularity as an ornamental xeriscaping shrub in areas where water conservation is important. It thrives in a wide range of coarse, alkaline soils that are common to desert environments. Pruning the shrub back to several inches in early spring, before new growth begins, may help improve the shrub's ornamental value.[18] The varieties Ericameria nauseosa var. nauseosa and Ericameria nauseosa var. speciosa are especially valued as they rarely exceed 24 inches and will often only reach a foot in height. Gardeners appreciate the enthusiastic late season blooms as well as the foliage.[17]

Specimens growing in Bayo Canyon, near Los Alamos, New Mexico, exhibit a concentration of radioactive strontium-90 300,000 times higher than a normal plant. Their roots reach into a closed nuclear waste treatment area, mistaking strontium for calcium due to its similar chemical properties. According to Joseph Masco, the radioactive shrubs are "indistinguishable from other shrubs without a Geiger counter."[19]

The Zuni people use the blossoms bigelovii variety of the nauseosa subspecies to make a yellow dye.[20] They use the stems to make baskets.[21] The Navajo also made a yellow dye from some of the flower heads.[4]

• 
  Rabbitbrush native to the area near the post office in Crestone, Colorado
• 
  Blooms of the decorative rabbitbrush used at the Crestone post office.
• 
  Rubber rabbitbrush in Utah
• 
  At Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado

• Data related to Ericameria nauseosa at Wikispecies
• Media related to Ericameria nauseosa at Wikimedia Commons
• United States Department of Agribulture Profile: Ericameria nauseosa
• Jepson Manual – Ericameria nauseosa
• Ericameria nauseosa Calflora Photo Gallery, University of California
• Ericameria nauseosa Oregon Flora Image Project
• https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/ericameria_nauseosa.shtml