{{Short description|Species of plant}} {{Speciesbox |image = Pluchea sericea 1.jpg |genus = Pluchea |species = sericea |authority = Nutt. }}

'''''Pluchea sericea''''', commonly called '''arrowweed''' or ''cachanilla'' (Mexico), is a rhizomatous evergreen shrub of riparian areas in the lower Sonoran Desert and surrounding areas. It is common in the lower Colorado River valley of California, Nevada and Arizona, as far east as Texas, and in northern Mexico where it often forms dense impenetrable thickets. It is a perennial shrub and grows along watercourses.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin |url=https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PLSE |access-date=2022-05-18 |website=www.wildflower.org}}</ref>

==Uses== It was once used medicinally by Native Americans as an antidiarrheal and eyewash. Other traditional uses include thatching, arrowmaking and food, especially the edible root.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BRIT - Native American Ethnobotany Database |url=http://naeb.brit.org/redirect/?referer= |access-date= |website=naeb.brit.org}}</ref>

In other uses, the gum resin that exudes from the plant was used by the Papago Indians to make a mending glue on broken pottery.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fontana |first1=Bernard L.|last2=Robinson|first2=William J.|last3=Cormack|first3=Charles W.|last4=Leavitt|first4=Earnest E.|year=1962|title=Papago Indian Pottery|publisher=University of Washington Press, on behalf of the American Ethnological Society|location=Seattle, Washington|page=81 |language=en|oclc=869680}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-taxon=Pluchea+sericea Calflora: ''Pluchea sericea'' (Arrow weed, Arrowweed)] *[https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=4438 Jepson eFlora (TJM2) treatment] *[https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PLSE USDA Plants Profile] *[http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_index&where-taxon=Pluchea+sericea UC CalPhotos gallery] {{Commons category-inline|Pluchea sericea}}

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sericea Category:Flora of Northwestern Mexico Category:Flora of California Category:Flora of the South-Central United States Category:Flora of the Southwestern United States Category:Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Category:Flora of the California desert regions Category:Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Category:Natural history of the Mojave Desert Category:Plants used in Native American cuisine Category:Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Category:Flora without expected TNC conservation status

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