Tarbush
Author: Ray Bowers

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Species: Flourensia Cernua

Description:
Tarbush is a 1 to 2 m (3.3 to 6.6 ft) tall much branched shrub, with the oldest branches having a sooty-black color. The leaves turn brown in the late fall, but stay on the plant during the winter. The simple oval spatula shaped leaves alternate on the branches and have smooth edges. The tarry aromatic resinous leaves are darker on the upper surface.

Geographic range:
Tarbush is found from southeastern Arizona through southern New Mexico to western Texas, then south into Mexico.

Habitat:
Tarbush is found on dry lower slopes and plains and in arroyos below 1,524 m (5,000 ft) in elevation.

Reproduction and Development:
Tarbush is a monoecious plant that blooms from September to December. The flowers are found in solitary nodding heads that are found where the upper leaves attach to the branch. The flower heads of twelve to twenty densely packed yellow flowers is surrounded by a cup-like structure made of two to three rows of modified leaves called bracts. Each flower produces a single seeded fruit called an achne that is surrounded with hairs and it has two unequal bristle-like hairs at the end.

• Tarbush flowers are toxic to cattle and the resinous chemicals in the leaves make them unpalatable to cattle.
  
• In Mexico the leaves and flower heads are brewed as a tea to help with indigestion.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Flourensia
Species: Flourensia Cernua

References:
Allred, Kelly W. 2000. A Field Guide to the Flora of the Jornada Plain. Las Cruces: NMSU Department of Animal and Range Science.

Bowers, Janice E. 1993. Shrubs and Trees of the Southwest Desert. Tucson, AZ: Southwest Parks and Monuments Association.

Carter, Jack L. 1997. Trees and Shrubs of New Mexico. Silver City, NM: Mimbres Publishing.

Kearney, Thomas H. and Robert H. Peebles. 1951. Arizona Flora. Berkeley, California: University of California Press.

MacMahon, James A. 1987. Deserts. New York: Alfred A. Knoph, Inc.

Wooton, E.O. and Paul C. Standley. 1915. Flora of New Mexico. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium, Vol 19. Washington: Government Printing Office.

Related Terms: Magnoliophyta, Magnoliopsida