Encelia farinosa Seeds | Brittlebush
LATIN NAME: Encelia farinosa
COMMON NAME: Brittlebush
Plant Profile
Encelia farinosa is a desert shrub of the daisy family, growing to a metre with brittle, wand-like stems and ovate leaves covered in a dense white felt. It is native to the Mojave and Sonoran deserts of California, Arizona and north-west Mexico, where it grows on dry washes and rocky slopes below 1,000 metres.
The flowers are yellow daisies on long stalks in spring, and the whole bush has a silvery, almost white look that reflects the desert sun. The resin that coats the stems has a pungent smell and was burned as incense in the missions of California. The stems are so brittle that the shrub is sometimes called the desert matchstick.
Science & Biotechnology
The white hairs on the leaf are a cooling device: they reflect light and hold a layer of still air against the surface, reducing water loss. Plants in full sun produce densely hairy leaves, while those in shade produce greener, less hairy ones, and the shrub can adjust its new growth to the exposure it experiences.
Brittlebush is drought-deciduous: in a dry year it drops its leaves and survives on the water stored in its stems, then flushes new growth within days of rain. The resin contains terpenes and flavonoids, and it was used as a chewing gum and as a fixative for incense, hence the Spanish name incienso. The shrub also resprouts from the base after fire, which is how it survives in chaparral where everything above ground is burned every few decades.
Uses & Benefits
The resin was collected, warmed and used as a gum, as a glue and as incense in mission churches. The leaf and stem were used in desert medicine for skin complaints, and the flowers are a minor nectar source for bees.
In the garden it is grown in dry borders and rock gardens in warm, arid climates, where its silver foliage and spring flowers are valuable. It needs no irrigation once established and resents summer water, which rots the crown. It is not hardy below about minus seven. The dried stems were also used as torches, since the resin burns with a bright flame.
Growing from Seed
Seed germinates fast, often within a week, at 20 to 25°C, and it does not need pretreatment. Sow in spring in a gritty mix, and keep the seedlings on the dry side; damping-off is the main risk.
Plant in full sun in soil that drains within hours, and water only to establish. The shrub is short-lived, five to ten years, and becomes leggy, so it is best replaced from seed or cuttings rather than pruned hard. Cuttings of firm young growth root easily in sand in summer. Old plants can be cut back hard in spring to force new basal growth, though the shrub rarely lives past ten years either way.
Our Take
A silver desert shrub for a hot, dry border, where it asks for nothing but drainage and gives a month of yellow daisies.
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