[Illustration: Geraea canescens]
Common names: DESERT-SUNSHINE, DESERT-SUNFLOWER, DESERT GOLD,
HAIRY-HEADED SUNFLOWER
Arizona, California, and Texas deserts: (_Geraea canescens_). Yellow.
January-June.
Sunflower family. Size: An annual, 6 inches to 2 feet tall.
One of the showiest of the Sunflowers. Desert-sunflowers often form
sweet-scented gardens of luxuriant bloom along roadsides and in sandy
basins early in the spring.
Its seeds form a dependable source of food for small rodents, especially
Pocket Mice, which store them in quantities. Wild bees and Hummingbird
Moths are attracted to the fragrant flowers.
This species is common in areas of sandy soil below 1,500 feet in
elevation from Utah and southeastern Colorado to southern Arizona and
Sonora, Mexico. It is one of the showy roadside flowers of Organ Pipe
Cactus National Monument.