BROOM-WEED
Broom-Weed. Kindling-Weed (Amphiachyris dracunculoides) is a pasture pest in the southern part of the Great Plains region. The slender stem is unbranched near the base, but above the middle the numerous spreading branches form a flat-topped plant which bears many small heads of yellow flowers. The plants are often 2-4 feet high and grow in dense masses. It has been used as a broom by early settlers, Mexicans, and children at play. The resinous foliage of the dried plants was also highly valued for kindling fires.
The broom-weed is closely related to the rabbit-brush which is so abundant in West Texas and New Mexico. The Texas rabbit-brush (Gutierrezia texana) of West Texas is so much like the broom-weed that only a close observer can distinguish them. Both have 5-8 flowers with strap-shaped corollas in the outer part of the head and a few tubular flowers in the center; both bloom in the late summer and fall.
CAMPHOR DAISY TEXAS GUMWEED
Camphor Daisy (Heterotheca subaxillaris), so called because of the camphor-like odor of the rough foliage, is a common summer pest to the farmer. The plants often grow 3 feet high and are much branched, bearing heads of golden-yellow flowers nearly an inch across. The upper leaves are broad and clasping, but the lower are narrowed at the base. The scientific name refers to the dissimilar fruits of the ray and disk flowers, those of the ray flowers having no bristles. It ranges from Delaware to Arizona and Mexico.
Texas Gumweed (Grindelia texana) belongs to a group easily recognized because of its sticky, bur-like heads and thick leaves. This one is common on rocky limestone slopes in Central Texas in the fall and ranges to Southwest Missouri. The wand-like stems, covered with the overlapping leaves, are topped by large heads of yellow flowers. Many gumweeds are found in Texas. Some of them were used to relieve colds, asthma, and rheumatism.
BIG GUMWEED
Big Gumweed. Saw-Leaf Daisy (Prionopsis ciliata) is easily recognized by its straight, stiff stalks which are closely covered with broad oval leaves. Dense masses of the sentinel-like plants may be seen along fence-rows in North-central and West Texas in August and September. It ranges north to Kansas and Missouri. The stems are topped by short clusters of large heads, 2-3 inches broad. The leaves are thick, gummy, and closely beset with bristle-tipped teeth. Sometimes an injury to the stem may cause it to become widely branched.