Baccharis sarothroides

This is a spreading, woody shrub usually sticky with glandular secretions along the primarily leafless green stems. The small, thick leaves are a few centimeters long and are absent much of the year, giving the shrub a spindly, twiggy appearance. It flowers abundantly with tiny green blooms on separate male and female plants. Many consider it to be a weed. Desert Broom, or Baccaharis sarothroides, is a nuisance, shrub-like weed with broom-like stems that can reach 10-foot tall heights. Homeowners unfamiliar with native plants often mistake Desert Broom for an ornamental shrub. This invasive weed can crowd out other plants, steal valuable water and clog roadsides and retention areas. Desert Broom blooms later than most plants and generates countless cottony seed mounds, which affect allergy sufferers. Pollinators focus mainly on the male flowers which have more nectar.