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Encelia frutescens; photograph (c) Sergey, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Sergey, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-04-17

Encelia frutescens A.Gray

Brittlebush; Bush encelia; Button brittlebush; Rayless encelia

Asteraceae · Arizona, California +3

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Encelia frutescens A.Gray: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (A.Gray) A.Gray.

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Encelia frutescens, photograph (c) Matt Berger, some rights reserved (CC BY)Encelia frutescens, photograph (c) Matt Berger, some rights reserved (CC BY)Encelia frutescens, photograph (c) Aaron Liston, some rights reserved (CC BY)Encelia frutescens, photograph (c) Aaron Liston, some rights reserved (CC BY)Encelia frutescens, photograph (c) Aaron Liston, some rights reserved (CC BY)Encelia frutescens, photograph (c) Sergey, some rights reserved (CC BY) 88 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-0.1°C
Record low -4.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
39°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
151mm
No month of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
20–55DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes November to March and August, read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Encelia frutescens is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names button brittlebush and bush encelia.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Encelia frutescens", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Encelia

Encelia is a genus of the plant family Asteraceae whose members are frequently called brittlebushes. It consists of shrubs of arid environments in southwestern North America and western South America.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Encelia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (108 mm of 145 mm) falls in November to March and August, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 17.0 °C against a yearly mean of 21.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: February and May to September.

Rain

145 mm in the median year at the habitat, 108 mm of it November to March and August. Wettest month February at 23 mm, driest month June at 1 mm; 2 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 102 mm to 347 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 151 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 145 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 55 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 18, the highest 90th-percentile month 55).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -0.1 °C, the absolute minimum -4.7 °C, 177 frost nights in 44 years, 4.0 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 46.1 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 5.7 °C in December (across the grid cells of the range 1.9 °C to 8.8 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 39.3 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -0.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 36 to 46% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -208 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Encelia frutescens through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 39 °C; coldest month December, mean nightly low 5.7 °C; 145 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°50°frost46.1° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-4.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075mm rainDLI 20–55RH 36–46%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 428 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C18 / 14–2020 / 15–2223 / 19–2628 / 23–3033 / 29–3537 / 33–4039 / 35–4238 / 34–4135 / 31–3829 / 25–3122 / 18–2517 / 13–20
Night °C6 / 2–97 / 3–1010 / 6–1213 / 9–1517 / 14–2022 / 18–2426 / 21–2825 / 21–2822 / 18–2516 / 12–1910 / 6–136 / 2–9
Rain mm21 / 14–3723 / 14–4019 / 12–336 / 3–133 / 1–71 / 0–68 / 5–5615 / 8–6210 / 6–349 / 6–2311 / 7–2219 / 13–35
DLI22 / 20–2428 / 26–3038 / 37–4047 / 46–4853 / 52–5355 / 54–5551 / 47–5246 / 43–4741 / 39–4233 / 31–3425 / 23–2620 / 18–22
RH %46 / 44–5046 / 43–5043 / 41–4839 / 38–4538 / 35–4436 / 33–4140 / 36–4642 / 38–4841 / 38–4642 / 39–4543 / 41–4646 / 44–50
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 428 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (970 records in those cells; 7 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1121:1320 (33.925, -113.975). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -4.7 °C, 1st-percentile night -0.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 46.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 428 distinct grid cells holding 970 of the 986 in-range records (7 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1121:1320 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 34.00_-113.750, lapse-corrected -208 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 325 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeArizona, California, Nevada, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker33.289, -116.084 · in the densest population, 866 records (63% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1380 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 970 of them in the land cells it reads, of 986 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 343 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 9 km away. 23 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 394 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1380 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Encelia frutescens, photograph 1did not loadEncelia frutescens, photograph 2did not loadEncelia frutescens, photograph 3did not loadEncelia frutescens, photograph 4did not loadEncelia frutescens, photograph 5did not loadEncelia frutescens, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Matt Berger, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Aaron Liston, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Sergey, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Tidestromia suffruticosa Tidestromia suffruticosa Honeysweet Photo: CC BY, Kenzie Anderson-BellJohnstonella angustifolia Johnstonella angustifolia Narrow-leaved cryptantha Photo: CC0, Ellen C LovelidgeDicoria canescens Dicoria canescens Desert twinbugs Photo: CC BY, Rachel AllinghamEremalche rotundifolia Eremalche rotundifolia Desert five-spot Photo: CC BY, Jacob SaucierWashingtonia filifera Washingtonia filifera California fan palm Photo: CC0, author not statedPeucephyllum schottii Peucephyllum schottii Pygmy-cedar Photo: CC BY, Matt Berger

Other Encelia 7 in the reference

Encelia actoni Encelia actoni Acton encelia Photo: CC0, author not statedEncelia asperifolia Encelia asperifolia Asteraceae Photo: CC0, author not statedEncelia californica Encelia californica California brittlebush Photo: CC BY, Mike HeineEncelia canescens Encelia canescens Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, Álvaro Parra ValdiviaEncelia farinosa Encelia farinosa Brittlebush Photo: CC0, author not statedEncelia ventorum Encelia ventorum Asteraceae Photo: CC0, author not statedEncelia virginensis Encelia virginensis Virgin River brittlebush Photo: CC BY, CK2AZ

Names & registers

Also known as Encelia frutescens f. frutescens; Encelia frutescens f. ovata; Encelia frutescens subsp. frutescens; Encelia frutescens var. frutescens; Simsia frutescens. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Asteraceae
Described by
A.Gray
Native to
Arizona, California, Nevada +2
Wild records
1380 in range · 343 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 3118762 is Encelia frutescens (A.Gray) A.Gray; the page links Kew's Encelia frutescens A.Gray, and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 34.00_-113.750, lapse-corrected -208 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 63 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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