Mariola

Parthenium incanum

mariola blooming at Academy Village

About the Plant

Mariola is a small evergreen shrub native to the Southwest US. Its compact form makes it ideal for small landscapes. The leaves are covered with woolly white hairs, giving them a light green color that contrasts nicely with darker plants. Flowering begins in August and may continue into the fall.

Grow mariola in full sun. It is found on limestone and caliche soils in the wild. It is quite drought tolerant once establish and is recommended for erosion control on slopes. Mariola is hardy to at least 15°F, perhaps lower. Pruning is only needed to remove dead stems and perhaps to deadhead when flowering is finished.

Notes: Mariola is closely related to wild quinine (Parthenium integrifolium) of the eastern Great Plains and to guayule (Parthenium argentatum), native to Texas and Mexico. Rubber from guayule is used to make hypoallergenic latex gloves and may find use in tire production.

Wildlife value: uncertain. Other Parthenium species are known to attract many small insects.

More Information

Weekly Plant on mariola

Information from Texas Native Plant Database

Information on historical uses from Texas Beyond History

Map of distribution in US

Technical botanical description from SEINet

In books:

Native Plants for Southwestern Landscapes by Judy Mielke, page 216

ID Characteristics

This plant is in the Asteraceae - the aster family.
Mariola is an evergreen shrub that grows 2-3 feet high and about 3 feet wide. New stems are initially hairy and whitish but older stems are brown.
Leaves are alternate. Each leaf has a short petiole and several lobes. Leaves are 1-1.25 inches long and 0.5-.75 inches wide, becoming smaller near the flower clusters. Both surfaces of the leaf are covered in white hairs giving a woolly, pale green appearance.
Flower heads are held in clusters several inches wide but each flower head is only 1/4 inch wide. There are 5 ray flowers each with very short, notched, white-to-cream petals. This are the pistillate flowers and produce seed. The central ray flowers are tightly compacted and are staminate, producing pollen. Some authors describe the flower head as resembling a head of cauliflower.
Phyllaries below the flowers are oblong, pale green, and hairy.