''Parthenium incanum'', with the common names mariola and New Mexico rubber plant, is a plant in the genus ''
Parthenium'' of the family
Asteraceae
The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae ...
.
The plant is native to North America, from the
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...
through Northern, Central, and Southwestern
Mexico
Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...
.
[ Habitats include desert grasslands including in the ]Chihuahuan Desert
The Chihuahuan Desert ( es, Desierto de Chihuahua, ) is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lowe ...
, on dry gravel slopes, and on plains.
Description
''Parthenium incanum'' grows from in height and width. Its foliage is a pubescent grayish-white. Small white flower clusters appear from July to October.[ Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Native Plant Information Network (NPIN): ''Parthenium incanum'' (mariola)]
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Uses
Medicinal
The Jicarilla Apache
Jicarilla Apache (, Jicarilla language: Jicarilla Dindéi), one of several loosely organized autonomous bands of the Eastern Apache, refers to the members of the Jicarilla Apache Nation currently living in New Mexico and speaking a Southern Athab ...
used mariola as a traditional medicinal plant. It was prepared by boiling the plant's leaves, and the solution was then was rubbed over a pregnant woman's abdomen to relieve discomfort.
Cultivation
''Parthenium incanum'' is cultivated as an ornamental plant, for use in drought tolerant, native plant, and wildlife gardens.[Aggie-horticulture.edu—Texas Native Plants Database: Mariola (''Parthenium incanum'')]
/ref>
References
External links
USDA Plants Profile for ''Parthenium incanum'' (mariola)
incanum
Flora of the Southwestern United States
Flora of Mexico
Flora of New Mexico
Flora of the Chihuahuan Desert
Plants used in traditional Native American medicine
Garden plants of North America
Drought-tolerant plants
Plant dyes
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