Although its bright yellow flowers are attractive up-close (very close), I first saw this native plant before its late summer/fall bloom. It was gnarled and twisted, with a thick woody stem like a tree on a desert. Which I guess isn't far from what Rabbitbrush is: a stunted, dry-land shrub.
|Rabbitbrush rising from rock. © SB|
A clue to the height of the two Rabbitbrush shrubs is given by the yellow flower at back left: Curlycup Gumweed, another plant that thrives on the dry prairies.
|Rabbitbrush in flower on the side of a butte. © SB|
Then again, the picture above was taken very late in the season, with more dried than fresh blooms, and these plants still cast a pale haze of colour across the slopes of this butte, emerging from rough prairie pasture.
It would be interesting to get closer mid-season, and with a macro lens see what each individual flower might reveal, to study its fine, hairy leaves and gnarled woolly stem.
Prairie Wildflower: Rabbitbrush: in profile, and in flower.
Location: Grasslands National Park and land near Avonlea, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Photo Date: June 23 and September 29, 2012.