Plants (10-)25-40(-70+) cm. Stems usually strictly erect. Leaves mostly 10-25(-40) mm; blades linear or lobed (lobes 3-7+, linear to filiform), faces scaberulous (hairs ± conic, 0.1 mm) and gland-dotted. Peduncles mostly (3-)8-25(-30+) mm. Involucres obconic or obpyramidal, 4-6+ mm (each often subtended by 1-3, lanceolate bractlets). Phyllaries 4-6, green to purple, weakly carinate, oblanceolate to obovate, gland-dotted, otherwise usually glabrous. Ray florets usually 1(-2), sometimes 0; corollas yellow to white, laminae 0.8-1.2+ mm. Disc florets 2-6(-8+); corollas yellow (sometimes with purple), 1.5-2 mm. Cypselae blackish to buff, 3-4 mm, hirsutulous to villous, especially on angles; pappi of 8 white to tawny or purplish, obovate-rounded or elliptic to lanceolate scales 1-2.5 mm (sometimes some or all ± aristate). 2n = 20, 22, 40.

Flowering Sep-Oct. Roadsides, pastures, wooded slopes; 1500-2100 m; Ariz., N.Mex., Tex.; Mexico; Central America; South America.

Schkuhria pinnata has been noted as persisting after plantings in Maine. Schkuhria pinnata (Lamarck) Kuntze var. wislizeni (A. Gray) B. L. Turner is a superfluous, illegitimate, name intended to refer to North American plants of S. pinnata.

Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Annual with stems usually strictly erect, 20-50 cm tall, glabate.

Leaves: Blades 10-25 mm, linear or lobed, with 3-7+ linear to filiform lobes, faces scaberulous and gland dotted.

Flowers: Heads numerous, pedunculate; involucres obconic or obpyramidal, 4-6 mm, often subtended by 1-3, lanceolate bractlets; phyllaries 4-6, green to purple, obovate, yellowish to purplish at apex; ray flowers usually 1, sometimes 0, yellow to white with laminae 0.8-1.2 mm; disc florets 2-6, corollas yellow, sometimes with purple, 1.5-2 mm.

Fruits: Cypselae blackish to buff, 3-4 mm, hirsutulous to villous, especially on angles, pappus of 8 white to tawny or purplish, obovate-rounded or elliptic to lanceolate scales 1-2.5 mm.

Ecology: Found in disturbed areas, rocky slopes and in canyons from 5,000-7,000 ft (1524-2134 m); flowers September-October.

Notes: Very similar to Tagetes micrantha but differs in having fewer disc florets and glabrous phyllaries. Has erroneously been identified as having var. wislizeni, but all these -varieties- are actually this species.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Schkuhria is named for Christian Schkuhr (1741-1811) a German botanist, while pinnata means pinnate.

Synonyms: Many, see Tropicos

Editor: SBuckley, 2010