[Illustration: Heterotheca subaxillaris]
Common Names: TELEGRAPH PLANT, CAMPHOR-WEED
Arizona and Texas deserts: (_Heterotheca subaxillaris_). Pale yellow.
March-November.
Sunflower family. Size: Grows 2 to 6 feet tall.
The flowers are not particularly attractive, but become conspicuous as
the seed-heads develop, because of the white, densely-haired tufts.
Stems are tall and straight “like telegraph poles,” and the crushed
leaves give off a slight camphor-like odor.
Although the plant occurs from the east coast across the southern
portion of the United States, it is found in the desert at elevations
between 1,000 and 5,000 feet.
Camphor-weed is a tall, coarse, robust, straight-stemmed plant which is
abundant and conspicuous along roads and ditchbanks, and in the open
desert following winters of heavy precipitation.