Shrubs
Big sagebrush
The gray-green shrub of Utah's open valleys and basins, and essential to sage grouse.
Rubber rabbitbrush
The shrub behind much of the yellow along Utah roadsides in late summer.
Rubber rabbitbrush is a rounded shrub, about 1 to 7 feet tall, with flexible, rubbery stems covered in a felt-like coat. It flowers from June to September with small yellow flower heads in umbrella-shaped clusters.
It favors sunny, open ground on plains, valleys, foothills and mountains and is particularly common on disturbed sites. USU Extension says it was studied during World War II as a substitute source of rubber.
Seeing it
Not every yellow roadside shrub is rabbitbrush; look for the felty, flexible stems.
More plants · Sagebrush and grassland
Grasses
Indian ricegrass
Utah's state grass, a drought-tolerant bunchgrass found on most of the state's rangeland.