Baccharis salicifolia (Ruiz Lopex & Pavon) =Baccharis glutinosa =Baccharis viminea Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Native Mule Fat Chaparral Broom Seep-Willow

                                              April Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Dioecious, willowlike shrubs, 1-4 m. high, the virgate stems simple to infl. or branched, lvs. +/- glutinous, entire or denticulate, 5-15 cm. long, 7-18 m. wide, lance-linear, acuminate, short petioled, the midrib stronger than the two laterals; heads many, in terminal compound corymbs or close cymose clusters on ends of short lateral branches; invol. ca. 4 mm. high, 3-5-seriate, the phyllaries ovate to lance-oblong, with obscure green midrib, +/- ciliolate.

Generally B. viminea is recognized as a separate sp. by having laterally placed cymes, but there is some evidence (by D.H. Wilken) that the terminal corymbose infl. of B. glutinosa comes first and the side branches may develop later. (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 125).   

Habitat:  Mostly below 3500 ft., along water-courses; Coastal Sage Scrub, Chaparral, etc.; n. L. Calif. to n. cent. Calif., coast to Colo. Desert and Kelso, Darwin, etc.; to Colo., Tex., Mex., S. Am., Santa Catalina, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Ids.  Blooms most of the year.

Name:  Greek, bakkaris, the name given to a plant with a fragrant root.  Glutinosa means sticky and refers to the leaves.  (Dale 53).  Latin, vimin, pertaining to twigs. (Jaeger 281).   Latin, salicis, the willow.  (Jaeger 226).  Probably referring to the willow-like characteristics of the species.  (my comment).

General:  Very common in the study area.  Photographed on the North Star Flats and the Eastbluff Bench. (my comments).      Indians used the leaves for medicine and made arrow foreshafts from the wood.  (Heizer and Elsasser 242).        The common name is from the fact that mules would bloat after eating the plant.     The Indians made spears from the wood and hardened it by putting it in fire after stripping the bark.  The leaves were used as an eyewash and to cure baldness.  (lecture by Charlotte Clarke, author of Useful and Edible Plants of California, April 1987).      All California Indian tribes could make fire with a hand fire drill.  Several tribes used B. salicifolia for a fire drill. (Campbell 5).     Kumeyaay, Maricopa and Mohave Indians made a box trap for quail from elderberry, mulefat, (B. salicifolia) or arroweed sticks.  It has been reported that sometimes so many quail became trapped under the box that they flew away with it.  (Campbell 61).    The Mohave and Yuma Indians of southeastern California ate the young shoots of B. salicifolia as famine food, roasting them on hot ashes.  (Campbell 142).      Summer forms (infl. terminal, lvs. mostly toothed) formerly separated from winter forms (infls. lateral, lvs. entire).  (Hickman, Ed. 210).

Text Ref:  Hickman, Ed. 210; Munz, Calif. Flora 1226; Munz,

Flora So. Calif. 124; Roberts 9.

Photo Ref:  April 2 83 # 11A,12A; Nov-Dec 89 # 20.

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by F. Roberts.

First Found:  December 1982.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 151.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 7/14/05

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