Chrysothamnus nauseosus
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 Chrysothamnus nauseosus in Oregon
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| Chrysothamnus nauseosus |
Chrysothamnus nauseosus, also known as gray rabbitbrush, rubber rabbitbrush, or Chamisa, is a shrub of the genus Chrysothamnus that grows in western North America.
It is a shrubby perennial, producing golden yellow flowers in mid-late summer.
Specimens growing in Bayo Canyon, near Los Alamos, New Mexico, exhibit a concentration of radioactive strontium-90 300,000 times higher than a normal plant. Their roots reach into a closed nuclear waste treatment area, mistaking strontium for calcium due to its similar chemical properties. The radioactive shrubs are "indistinguishable from other shrubs without a Geiger counter."[1]
[edit] References
- ^ Masco, Joseph. The Nuclear Borderlands: The Manhattan Project in Post-Cold War New Mexico. Princeton University Press, 2006.
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