Thursday, July 12, 2007

Thursday 13: Rabbit brush

Lots of kitties asked about the rabbit in the rabbit brush last week. So I thought I'd do a Thursday 13 on that very common plant in the Great Basin sage scrub complex of plants that occurs around our mountain house.

1. Scientific name: Chrysothamnus nauseosus
2. The name means golden shrub.
3. It is also known as Chamisa in Spanish
4. It is in the sunflower family
5. Found from British Columbia to Alberta, south to Texas and northern Mexico.
6. Fall-blooming, with clusters of yellow flowers.
7. Sweetish, resinous smell, aromatic with an almost pine like odor.
8. Up to 4 ft tall.
9. Grass like gray-green leaves.
10. Favorite food of white-tailed and black-tailed jackrabbits. Also attracts butterflies.
11. Native Americans chewed the bark and wood for a chewing gum and used a teas wash for skin sores.
12. Fresh and dried flowers can be used as a dye–gold colors with mordants of alum, copper or tin or chrome for a rust color, or iron for green color.
13. From the fall flowers, bees make a strong-flavored, amber-colored honey.

Mom is trying to get a nice community of sage brush and rabbit brush in our back yard. I love hunting lizards in the these bushes! We get lots of desert cottontails too, but no big jackrabbits.

20 comments:

Dragonheart, Merlin, Devi, and Chloe said...

Thanks for the lesson on rabbit brush, Tara. :) You look lovely in your harness, checking it out!

Skeezix the Cat said...

BE CAREFUL, TARA! I think jakrabbits can be vishus!

PaHaRs said...

This article is so interested to me. Thanks for sharing Tara, Siamese friends

Batigoal

snowforest said...

Oh that's a very cute picture - thanx for this educational post :)

Zippy, Sadie, Speedy and M'Gee said...

Um, your not going to test us on dis are you? Cuz, mostly we would amember dat you hunt lizzards in dem and how pretty you looked!

Jimmy Joe said...

Maybe you and Daisy can compare lizards, Tara. You look very glamorous in that picture, with your snazzy blue harness.
Your buddy, Jimmy Joe

The Meezers or Billy said...

that's really inneresting! we would like some so that we can see jackrabbits in our yard. does it survive in snow?

Artsy Catsy said...

That was very interesting and educational, Tara. We thought a rabbit brush was something you brush rabbits with!

Everybody at Artsy Catsy

Hot(M)BC said...

Wild! It doesn't LOOK like a sunflower. Grandma loves sunflowers.
Purrrrrrrrrs!

Pee Ess. Check out the Cat Blogosphere's first Thursday Thirteen.

ANGEL ABBYGRACE said...

Wow we found your information fascinating, now we want to see some of them gigantic jackrabbits. I just didn't know all rabbits were called Jack. Wow I wonder how they tell each other apart?

♥ аббу ♥

Daisy said...

Any plant that harbors lizards is a good plant. That's what I think.

Rosemary B❤️ said...

You live in a pretty cool area, wowie. no jackrabbits around here... just lots and lots of bunbuns.
You look so content in that last pic

Unknown said...

Tara, you are so smart. I don't know anything about rabbit brush.

Toffee K. Ripple Fuzzypants & Feline American Angels said...

Furry informative, Tara ... We don't have those in our yard 'cuz we live in the 'burbs.
DMM

Tink said...

Very interesting, thanks for sharing. Having your own sage sounds good too; I often use it for smudging.

Oscar the Puppy Cat said...

Hi beautiful little Tara! I loved you TT today. Nature is one of my favorite things and learning about the different types of plants and animals relaxes me! Have a superfantastic weekend!

zevo hussein calamari said...

cool brush.... be careful hunting in them!
hope to see you at the bastille day party.

Scout said...

ur presioucs!! how do you ware a harb=ness? skares me! two tite!

you are pritty.

Pelu & Carlota said...

this article is very interesting! Thanks for share with us!
The photo is beautiful.
Well, we returned!
More info an explanations in our blog!
Take care :)
byee
sorry for the bad english

Jake and Bathsheba said...

Our mom, that crazy native plant lover, thanks you for the information. We'd prefer to stake out that brush for a chance at a wily wabbit.

~J&B