Chamisa

For mile after mile along the edges of many main roads that I drove in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona, I saw bushes with yellow to yellow-orange flowers on them. They turned out to be Ericameria nauseosa, known as chamisa, gray rabbitbrush, and rubber rabbitbrush (yes, like its cousin goldenrod, which blooms in the same season, the plant can be used as a source of rubber). I photographed this chamisa group on US 550 north of Bernalillo, New Mexico, on September 25th, when I stopped to check out the bright red paintbrush you saw last time.

In researching this species I discovered there’s a Chamisa Dr. in Austin where houses sell for about a million dollars. That’s not my neighborhood.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman