Plant Species of the Bright Angel Trail:
resin brittlebush, Encelia resinifera ssp. resinifera
resin brittlebush, Encelia resinifera ssp. resinifera
See Plant Guide to Bright Angel Trail for an introduction to this page, especially the Introduction To These Species Pages.
Encelia resinifera ssp. resinifera has a very narrow distribution only in Arizona and Utah. It has the second smallest range of the species in the Plant Guide to Bright Angel Trail.
Characteristics
Identification status: 95% confidence. The determination is not 100% since I have not yet seen the plants in bloom; I've only seen the plants with leaves and dried flowers.
The determination rests on:
- these plants looking similar to Encelia species I have seen in southern California in leaves and dried flowers;
- a voucher of "E. frutescens" from the Bright Angel Trail; and
- the distribution maps of E. frutescens and E. resinifera made by Curtis Clark.
There are many vouchers of both "E. frutescens" and E. resinifera at Grand Canyon National Park. However, there is uncertainty as to the true determination of any voucher simply determined as "E. frutescens", since E. resinifera used to be called E. frutescens var. resinifera, and many vouchers are only determined to species.
The 1987 Grand Canyon Flora lists both "E. frutescens" and E. frutescens var. resinifera, but the distribution map made by Curtis Clark places E. frutescens var. frutescens only in the Sonoran Desert, well outside of the Grand Canyon.
There are two subspecies of E. resinifera, with ssp. tenuifolia found only along the Colorado River below Tapeats Creek at River Mile ~135, and ssp. resinifera found along the Kaibab Uplift in the Grand Canyon.
From a SEINet search on 28 September 2007, there are 19 vouchers of this species from the Coconino County portion of the Grand Canyon. There are 6 more vouchers determined only as E. frutescens that are likely to be the same taxon, including a voucher from this trail collected by the famous Alice Eastwood. Note that there may be additional vouchers at other herbaria not available through SEINet.
First occurrence on Bright Angel Trail: mile 3.62, elevation 4255 feet (1297 m).
Number of plants along Trail: These plants were quite common along the last 0.11 miles surveyed; at least 20 plants were found in at least 5 different locations in September 2007. There are probably many more farther along the trail.
Pictures
From 5 September 2007, mile 0.00:
References
See Resources for Grand Canyon Flora for further information on most of these references. Entries in the second column are either the name used in that source or a page reference. The name is linked to online pages when available. If a given reference does not contain this taxon, the entry is either left blank or contains a hyphen.
| Family | Asteraceae |
|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Encelia resinifera ssp. resinifera |
| 1987 Grand Canyon Flora Name | Encelia frutescens var. resinosa |
| 1987 Grand Canyon Flora page | 31 |
| SEINet Image Page | Encelia frutescens |
| USDA Plants | Encelia resinifera ssp. resinifera |
| Flora of North America | Encelia resinifera |
| Jepson Manual for California treatment | |
| Jepson Manual illustration page | |
| Kearney and Peebles Name | Encelia frutescens var. resinosa |
| Kearney and Peebles Page # | 904 |
| Vascular Plants of AZ name | |
| Vascular Plants of AZ volume: page | |
| Huisinga et al 2006 name | Encelia resinifera |
| Huisinga et al 2006 page numbers | 202 |
| Epple Name | - |
| Epple description page # | - |
| Epple pix # | - |
| McDougall 1964 name | Encelia frutescens |
| McDougall 1964 page # | 237 |
| Brian 2000 Name | Encelia frutescens var. resinifera |
| Phillips 1979 name | - |
| Phillips 1979 page # | - |
| Stockert 1967 name | Encelia frutescens |
| Stockert 1967 page # | 18 |