Parthenium incanum
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = Parthenium_incanum_foliage.jpg
|image_caption = Parthenium incanum growing in Walnut Canyon at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico
|genus = Parthenium
|species = incanum
|authority = KunthNova Genera et Species Plantarum 4:260, t. 391. 1820 {{ cite web |url=http://www.ipni.org:80/ipni/idPlantNameSearch.do?id=236511-1 |title=Plant Name Details for Parthenium incanum |work=IPNI |accessdate=June 30, 2010}}
}}
Parthenium incanum, with the common names mariola and New Mexico rubber plant, is a plant in the genus Parthenium of the family Asteraceae.{{GRIN | accessdate = 19 January 2018}}
The plant is native to North America, from the Southwestern United States through Northern, Central, and Southwestern Mexico. Habitats include desert grasslands including in the Chihuahuan Desert, on dry gravel slopes, and on plains.
Description
Parthenium incanum grows from {{convert|1.5|-|3|ft|m}} in height and width. Its foliage is a pubescent grayish-white. Small white flower clusters appear from July to October.[http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PAIN2 Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Native Plant Information Network (NPIN): Parthenium incanum (mariola)]
Uses
=Medicinal=
The Jicarilla Apache used mariola as a traditional medicinal plant. It was prepared by boiling the plant's leaves, and the solution was then rubbed over a pregnant woman's abdomen to relieve discomfort.[http://herb.umd.umich.edu/herb/search.pl?searchstring=Parthenium%20incanum&searchlimit=100 University of Michigan at Dearborn: Ethnobotany of Parthenium Incanum]{{ cite book |author=Opler, Morris E. |year=1946 |title=Childhood and youth in Jicarilla Apache society |url=https://archive.org/details/childhoodyouthin1946ople |url-access=registration |publisher=Publications of the Frederick Webb Hodge Anniversary Fund (Vol. 5). Los Angeles: The Southwest Museum Administrator of the Fund}}
=Cultivation=
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=PAIN2 USDA Plants Profile for Parthenium incanum (mariola)]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q13939086}}
Category:Flora of the Southwestern United States
Category:Flora of the Chihuahuan Desert
Category:Plants used in traditional Native American medicine
Category:Garden plants of North America
Category:Drought-tolerant plants
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