Golden Crownbeard
Verbesina encelioides, Sunflower Family, ( Asteraceae ), Golden Crownbeard. Also called: Cowpen Daisy.
Annual, .
Height: Up To About 30 inches feet tall.
Flowers: Several to numerous composite heads 1-2 inches across, borne on long peduncles. The involucral bracts are lanceolate, loose or somewhat spreading, and hairy. Yellow flower heads. The flower heads are up to 2 inches across and have 3-toothed rays. Conspicuous, showy, with 10 to 15 golden yellow ray florets that have tri-lobed tips, and yellowish-orange disk florets. The disk is .4 to .8 inch in diameter.
Each head produces at least 100 achenes, which are rodshaped, about 1/8 inch long, light brown, with many longitudinal nerves on the surface.
Blooming Time: Mid March - November.
Leaves: Silvery green leaves are triangular with toothed margins. Mostly alternate but opposite towards the base, simple, ovate to triangular, 2 to 4 inches long and 1 to 3 inches wide, coarsely toothed, with pointed tips and prominent veins on the underside. The leaves have a fine grayish-green pubescence on the upper surface, are densely white hairy beneath and are on petioles almost as long as the blade. The petiole is usually winged at the base.
At maturity, the achenes (seeds) are winged.
Found: Found throughout Arizona.
Elevation: 0 - 5000 Feet.
Habitat: Sandy or gravelly soils. A most attractive and abundant plant along roadsides, and mesas.
Miscellaneous: Flowering Photos Taken April 29, 2003. Near Lake Pleasant.
