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| Baccharis is a prolific fall blooming native plant. |
When land has been disturbed from its natural state by clearing, burning, or even drought, the first plant species that sprout quickly are called pioneer species. They typically thrive in dry, disturbed soils, and help rebuild the soil and nutrients needed for the land to recover. One of the key pioneer plant species in Central Texas is Roosevelt Weed (Baccharis neglecta), sometimes simply called Baccharis.
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| It is a multi-stemmed shrub with ascending branches. |
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| Its bark is brownish-gray and shallowly furrowed. |
Also called Poverty Weed, False Willow, New Deal Weed, and jara dulce, Baccharis is a resilient, multi-branching, soft woody shrub, 3 – 15 feet tall, with brownish-gray stems, and narrowly linear, resinous leaves. It is dioecious, or having male and female flowers growing on separate plants. From September to November the female flowers bloom, small greenish-white heads arranged in large silky, plumed clusters up to 1 foot long and 8 inches wide. The blooms develop into tiny fruits, about 1/16 inches long, that are borne on the wind by a small tuft of hairs.
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| Blooms form distinctive plumed clusters. |
Baccharis is a native plant that can easily become invasive if left unchecked, but it is bountiful in terms of the benefits it can provide. Initially, its extensive, fibrous root system provides erosion control by heavily anchoring soils and effectively stopping stormwater runoff and the subsequent loss of topsoil. It can be found in overgrazed pastures, old fields, disturbed uplands, and streambeds.
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| Close-up of its silky blooms. |
As a fall-blooming plant, Baccharis provides critical nectar for migrating butterflies (especially Monarchs) at a time when little else is blooming. It provides essential sugars for native bees, honey bees, wasps, and flies that are needed before winter dormancy. Birds and small mammals feed on the tiny seeds produced by the female flowers, and its branching habit provides much needed cover and places to nest. In winter, its semi-evergreen foliage offers emergency browse for deer.
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| Spider Wasp species nectaring on Baccharis. |
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| Tarantula Hawk species nectaring on Baccharis. |
Native to Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, many of the common names for Baccharis come from the fact that it was planted in fields as a fast and easy way to rejuvenate the severely damaged soil in the western and central regions of the United States after the Dust Bowl and Depression period of the 1930s during the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidency. It was chosen precisely for its extreme resilience, drought tolerance, rapid revegetation, and ability to control erosion.
