Slender Tarweed: The 115th Flower of Spring and Summer! [Explore #38]

PEEE-YEWWW, the nickname for these flowers is Stink Weed! One whiff and you will come up with the name by yourself, "WHAT IS THAT SMELL!!! IT STINKS!" I guess "Tarweed" is a kinder name, but it's descriptive. The problem with all the species in this genus is that they are covered with sticky resin and if you walk past a plant, you'll know the second you walk into your house when the smell hits you! I avoid taking our dogs out into the meadow when Tarweed is growing because the house smells for hours after we get home! *wrinkles nose* Clothes with any resin on them must be washed right away and if you get it on your skin, you'll need alcohol to break down the resin! ACK! It's no fun to walk through this stuff!

That being said, Tarweed has beautiful flowers and we have at least four different species on our property! :) Just be glad these two pictures aren't "Scratch & Sniff" images! You wouldn't be able to resist finding out what they smell like, and then you'd be really sorry! :D

Slender Tarweed is part of a genus of flowers which includes 11 species, all of which grow in the western regions of North America. Wiki lists them as "aeromatic herbs" which is a very polite way of saying STINK WEEDS! :D This plant is hated by ranchers because the resin will coat the legs and muzzles of livestock and is very difficult to remove.

Native Americans collected these plants' plentiful seeds, which they ground up and mixed into an important cornflour-based food called pinole.

If you would like to know more about this flower, I found a nice page here: Tarweel
Here's another page: Tarweed PDF
Wiki has a minimal source here: Wiki: Tarweed (Madia)

Explored on August 16, 2011. Placement at #55.