Geraea canescens (Desert sunflower)

Geraea canescens Torr. & A. Gray

Desert sunflower, hairy desert sunflower, desert gold, hairy desertsunflower

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Asteridae	A large class that encompasses asters
Order	Asterales	Flowering plants with a central disk flower and surrounding petals, like daisies
Family	Asteraceae	The aster family, which also includes daisies and sunflowers; from the Greek ἀστήρ, “star,” for the star-shaped flowers
Genus	Geraea	From the Greek geraios for old, for the white-haired involucre
Species	canescens	Covered with short gray or white hairs

About plant names...

The desert sunflower is native to western North America. It is a member of the aster family. After a rain, these flowers carpet wide expanses of desert.

Identification: Desert sunflowers are 4-31" (10-80 cm) high. They have gray-green leaves ⅜-4" (1-10 cm) long. Most of the leaves are near the base of the plant. Each stem is narrow and hairy, and bears a single yellow flower 1-1½" (2.5-3.8 cm) in diameter, with an orange center.

For this and many other flowers of the Anza Borrego desert, see this photo gallery.

Online References:

Geraea canescens on SEINet—the Southwest Environmental Information Network

Geraea canescens on CalPhotos

Geraea canescens on Wikipedia

Geraea canescens at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Geraea canescens at George and Audrey DeLange's Arizona wildflower site

Geraea canescens at the Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association

Geraea canescens on eFloras

Geraea canescens from the Jepson Manual