Low, tidy, diffused, much branched annual, stems slender, leafy; leaves fleshy, narrow, usually lemon-scented or spicy-scented, oil glands dot the narrow leaves; flower heads yellow, 1/2 inch wide, ray and disc flowers, flower heads in rounded clusters.
Scented (lemon or spicy) annual emerges after monsoon rains, highly branched; leaves narrow, dotted with glands, 2 to 5 pairs of bristles on margins; bracts 5 to 10; disc flowers 7 to 20, ray 8; achenes topped with scales, sometimes 1 or more bristles.
Habitat
Dry sandy, gravelly soils, roadsides, disturbed areas; shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands and sometime ponderosa pine.
Flower Characteristics
Dense flat-topped, rounded clusters; flowers open from center outward; flower heads on 3/8 to 3/4-inch long stems, 8 pointed, petal-like yellow ray flowers, 7 to 20 yellow disc flowers; bracts narrow, gland-dotted, in 1 series of 8 to 10 bracts.
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Leaves opposite, crowded at stem tips, not stalked, gland dotted; blades narrow, 3/8 to 1-3/4 inches long, slightly fleshy with a crease down the middle; margins with 2 to 5 pairs of bristles.
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Achene (1-seeded dried fruit that does not spit open) <1/8 inch long, sparsely hairy; topped with a crown of tiny scales that are sometimes awn-tipped. Each achene is partly wrapped by its adjacent bract (phyllary).