Willow baccharis (Baccharis neglecta)
Willow baccharis is a warm season, perennial shrub that is known by many names: Roosevelt willow, dry-land willow and poverty weed.
Easy to spot, the shrub has multiple branches that can reach a height of 10 feet and form a nearly rounded crown at the top. The light green leaves are wider near the base of the plant and have serrated outer edges. The leaves become narrow towards the top of the plant.
- An invasive pioneer plant that can be found in abandoned cropland fields, roadsides and other disturbed areas.
- Was used during the time of President Roosevelt’s New Deal Policy to arrest soil erosion and help hold the soil during the Dust Bowl years. This gave way to the various names dealing with that historic period of time in the U.S.
- Quickly spread from planted areas to thousands of acres throughout the southwest and northern Mexico.
- Has very little value for livestock or wildlife.
- Whitetail deer are known to use this plant to polish their antlers and monarch butterflies use the baccharis as a resting place during fall migration.
- Very showy, silky white flowers in the fall.
Willow baccharis can be controlled with good success by a timely application of herbicide.
Editor’s note: Kent Ferguson, retired rangeland management specialist from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), is providing us with plant identification photo stories to help ranchers identify those forbs, forages and species growing in the pastures. Additional photos provided by USDA NRCS.
Willow baccharis is excerpted from the June 2015 issue of The Cattleman magazine.