Wasatch Wildflowers: Rubber Rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus)

Photo: Rubber Rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus) – photo: Ashley Brown

WASATCH MOUNTAINS, Utah — Rubber Rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus) is a perennial shrub native to western areas of the United States, southwestern Canada, and northwestern Mexico. It’s often found in cold desert areas like the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin.

Indigenous peoples have multiple traditional uses for the plant, including; yellow dye from the flower heads, chewing gum derived from pulverized wood/bark, as a tea, cough syrup, and remedy for chest pains.

Deer, antelope, elk, small mammals, and birds depend on Rubber Rabbitbrush for food. Additionally, the plant is an important native species that provide a habitat for pollinators in late summer and throughout fall.

Rubber rabbitbrush often grows next to big sage and, during its blooming season, displays dense clusters of golden flowers during late summer and through October. The shrub has a rounded crown and typically grows between 1 and 8 feet tall. The multiple stems are slender, erect, and covered with matted felt-like hairs. The tiny yellow flowers are thin and tubular, arranged in rounded clusters. Each flower grows between ¼ – ½ inches long.

Watch for the bright yellow blooms throughout autumn in grasslands, open woodlands, and dry areas with sagebrush.