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Parthenium argentatum

Common name:	Guayule	Family:	Compositae
Author:	A.Gray.	Botanical references:	200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	South-western N. America - Mexico to Texas.
Habitat:	Limestone ridges and highly calcareous soils[110] in arid and semi-arid habitats[200].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	0	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Guayule [B,P],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	argentatum = with silver; parthenium = name of Greek plant;
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Asterales. Renamed to Asteraceae -- Aster family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Mexico(Kickapoo)

Physical Characteristics

An evergreen shrub growing to 1m. It is hardy to zone 8. It is in leaf all year. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects, wind and Apomictic (reproduce by seeds formed without sexual fusion). The plant is self-fertile. We rate it 0/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in very alkaline soil. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry soil and can tolerate drought.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Sunny Edge, By Walls, By South Wall, By West Wall.

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

Latex.

A source of rubber obtained by mechanical maceration of the roots and/or stems.[61, 110, 171]. Yields of up to 240 kilos per hectare per year are possible (harvested when plants are 5 years old)[110].

Cultivation details

Requires a very well-drained soil in full sun[200]. Prefers a sandy soil but cultivated plants succeed on most soils except clay[110]. Established plants are very drought resistant[110].
This species is not very hardy in Britain, plants dislike winter temperatures falling below -10°c and suffer damage below -15°c[11]. In particular, they dislike fluctuating winter temperatures and excessive winter wet[110]. Plants grow well but give a poor yield of latex when growing in areas of higher rainfall[110]. (This refers to the very low levels of rain the plant experiences in its native habitat). More rubber is produced if the plant is prevented from flowering[110]. British summers are possibly not warm enough for this plant to thrive[110].

Propagation

Seed - we have no details for this species but suggest sowing the seed in a greenhouse in early spring. Only just cover the seed. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[11] Bean. W. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. Murray 1981
A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[110] Polhamus. L. G. Rubber: Botany, Cultivation and Utilization.
Mainly tropical plants with a small section on temperate plants for rubber.

[171] Hill. A. F. Economic Botany. The Maple Press 1952
Not very comprehensive, but it is quite readable and goes into some a bit of detail about the plants it does cover.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

Readers Comments

Parthenium argentatum

Ava Devenport Mon Jun 12 20:06:51 2000

I did find a great amount of information on Parthenium argentatum including cultivation trials, etc. I can't remeber whether or not it stated that the plant can't be harvested for three years, though, which is the information I received from ARS.

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Bibliography

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Parthenium+argentatum
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Parthenium+argentatum

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We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.