General: Desert Chicory (Rafinesquia neomexicana) is a spring wildflower with fairly large, white, daisy flowers without a disk in the center (ray flowers only). The center of the flower might be marked with a small spot of yellow or red. The ends of the outer ray flowers (the “petals”) are square and deeply notched.

Desert Chicory are fairly common components of the spring wildflower display along sandy and gravely washes and bajadas in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zones.

Family: Sunflower (Asteraceae).

Other Names: Wild chicory, New Mexico plumseed.

Plant Form: Upright annual forb with white, disk-less daisy flowers

Height: To about 15 inches.

Stems: Flower stems long and lanky.

Leaves: Cauline leaves oblong, 1-6 inches, deeply lobed. Terminal cauline leaves linear. Clasping.

Flowers: Blooms in the spring. Daisy flower without disk flowers. 1-5 flowerheads per stem. Outer ray flowers with deeply notched petals.

Phyllaries in two ranks. Outer (basal) short, spreading or reflexed. Inner (main) phyllaries long, green with yellow edges, held against the flowers.

Seeds: achene

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on upper bajadas and moderate slopes in the lower mountains. Plants often grow up from beneath a nurse plant.

Elevation: To about 4,500 feet.

Distribution: California to southwestern Utah and west Texas, south into northern Mexico.

Comments: This species often grows up through overlying shrubs, using the shrub for support.