Broom snakeweed

Gutierrezia sarothrae

Family:: Asteraceae
Elevation:: 3,500 ft – 8,000 ft
Bloom:: Aug – Oct
Region:: Southwest

A small, dense, resinous subshrub that turns solid gold in fall alongside chamisa. An indicator of dry, disturbed, or overgrazed ground across the high desert.

Care · tuned to the Southwest

Water

None. It's a colonizer of the driest, poorest sites; irrigation kills it.

Sun & exposure

Full sun.

Soil

Any lean alkaline soil, especially disturbed or compacted ground.

In the Southwest

Native but weedy — it increases on overgrazed range and can be toxic to livestock in quantity. In a garden it reads as a finer-textured stand-in for chamisa. Short-lived; reseeds readily.

Common problems & fixes

Short-lived and weedy — declines after a few years and seeds aggressively
Fix — Treat it as a short-lived filler, shear spent flower heads to limit reseeding, and replace old plants.
Woody, dead-looking center — the crown opens and browns while outer stems stay green
Fix — Cut back hard in late winter to force fresh basal growth, or replace overgrown plants.

Pets & toxicity

Can be toxic to grazing livestock (cattle, sheep) in quantity; not a typical concern for dogs or cats.

Easy to confuse with

Rubber rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa) — taller, coarser, silvery stems
Threadleaf groundsel — yellow but different foliage

Sources

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