Plant Name
Scientific Name: Calyptocarpus vialis
Common Names: Straggler Daisy, Prostrate Lawnflower
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Introduced
Habitat: Desert. It most often grows in urban and suburban areas with lawns.
Flower Color: Yellow disks and rays
Flowering Season: Spring, Summer, Fall
Height: To only 4 inches (10 cm) tall
Description: The small flower heads are only 1/4 inch (6.4 mm) across. The leaves have toothed margins and are dark green, opposite, oval in shape, and stippled with short, light-colored hairs. The stems are prostrate and root at the nodes, allowing this plant to easily spread.
These low-growing plants can form large, weedy patches in lawns and other irrigated areas, but they can also be cultivated and used as an attractive groundcover in shady, irrigated areas.
Special Characteristics
Butterfly Plant – The flowers attract small, lawn butterflies like Skippers (Family Hesperiidae).
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae – Aster family
Genus: Calyptocarpus Less. – calyptocarpus
Species: Calyptocarpus vialis Less. – straggler daisy
More About This Plant