Welcome to Catnapin's

Yellow and Orange Wildflower Gallery

Daisy-like Flowers with Conifer-like Leaf

(see comparison photographs below -- at left and center/left)

Asteraceae (Compositae) - Sunflower family

Damianita Chrysactinia mexicana

Flower 1/2"-3/4" wide on a 2"-6" tall bare stalk.  Small, orangey-yellow domed center.  Thick prickly leaves are about 1/2" long with a little stem between each.  When you walk through a patch of these, the medicine-like scent is very strong.

Photos taken in Taylor County, Texas, April 2005

(Native of Texas)

(see comparison photographs above -- center/right and at right)

Asteraceae (Compositae) - Sunflower family

Pricklyleaf Dogweed Thymophylla acerosa (Dyssodia acerosa)

Flower 3/8"-1/2" wide with no stalk.  Only 8 rounded petals with large orangey-yellow domed center.  The large flower base and leaves have very big pores.  Thick prickly leaves are less than 1/2" long and tightly packed up the stem.  Mounding plant grows to about 8" tall.  When you walk through a patch of these, the medicine-like scent is very strong.

Photos taken in Taylor County, Texas, April 2004, April 2005

(Native of Texas)

Plant Description: woody base and stems. This plant will bloom all year except for the coldest times.  Limestone sand and red sandstone mix. 4"-10" tall

Leaves: not pinnatisect (split), acerose (needle-shaped) bearing numerous small swollen glands

Leaf glands: numerous, large swollen dots

Flower size: 3/8"-1/2" wide

Ray Petals: 7-8, never overlap, teardrop shape

Disk: 18-25 yellow

Achene & Pappus (fruit & fluff):

Involucre (flower base): large, 13 phyllaries connate (united not separate) nearly to the tip

Phyllary glands: conspicuously dotted in the upper half or third

Bracts: should have five linear bracts under phyllaries that are more than half as long as the involucre

Peduncle (flower stem): heads sessile (no stalk)

Similar Species

Asteraceae (Compositae) - Sunflower family

? Common Name **zy 9** Thymophylla sp. (Dyssodia sp.)

Flower 3/8"-1/2" wide with no stalk.  Only 8 petals with large orangey-yellow domed center.  Petals are not as round as the above species.  The large flower base and leaves have very big pores.  Thick prickly leaves are less than 1/2" long. This species' leaves are not as tightly packed up the stem.  Plant grows to about 8" tall.  When you walk through a patch of these, the medicine-like scent is very strong.

Photos taken in Val Verde County, Texas, August 2005

(Native of Texas)

Asteraceae (Compositae) - Sunflower family

Tiny Tim (Bristle-leaf Dyssodia) Thymophylla tenuiloba var. tenuiloba (Dyssodia tenuiloba)

Flower 1/4"-3/8" wide with pointed oval petals.  Flower is at the top of a thin 4" tall bare stem.  Each leaf is dissected into 1/4" long, hair-thin spikes.  Branches grows 1"-2" tall.  When you walk through a patch of these, the medicine-like scent is very strong.

Photos taken in Taylor County, Texas, May 2005 & May 2006

(Native of Texas)

Plant Description: Annual or short lived perennial.  Woody base.  Limestone gravel, sand, and red clay mix.

Leaves: mostly alternate, dissected into 7-15 linear lobes (like an antler), very thin and small, acerose (needle-shaped)

Leaf Glands: few, small flat dots

Flower Size: 1/4"-3/8" wide

Ray Petals: over 10, long teardrop shape, sometimes overlap, 4-10 mm long and 1.3-3 mm wide

Disk: shaggy dome, disk florets 50-100, usually darker than the rays but not in mine

Achene & Pappus (fruit & fluff): - 10-12 similar squamellae (small scales at base of disk flowers) each bearing 3-5 awns (bristly hairs).

Involucre (flower base): large, phyllaries connate (united) nearly to the tip

Phyllary Glands: a ring of oblong to round glands at the top of free portion of phyllaries

Bracts: none in this species

Peduncle (flower stem): bare, 1"-3" tall, very thin

Similar Species

Asteraceae (Compositae) - Sunflower family

? Common Name **zy 8** Scientific Name

Flower about 1/2" wide with pointed oval petals.  Petals are narrower than above species and flower larger.  Flower is at the top of a 4" tall bare stem.  Hair-thin spike leaves are about 1/4" long.  Branches grows 1"-2" tall.  When you walk through a patch of these, the medicine-like scent is very strong.

Photos taken in Val Verde County, Texas, August 2005

(Native of Texas)

Other Variations

Bristle-leaf Dogweed Thymophylla tenuiloba var. puberula (Dyssodia tenuiloba)

(found on the Edwards Plateau)

Bristle-leaf DyssodiaThymophylla tenuiloba var. radiata (Dyssodia tenuiloba var. texana)

leaves same as var. tenuiloba; pappus of 5-10 lanceolate or truncate scales, .7-1.2 mm long either all erose or 1-3 with a single delicate awn about equaling the squamellae

Trecul's Pricklyleaf Thymophylla tenuiloba var. treculii

leaves same as var. tenuiloba; pappus of 5 oblanceolate or truncate scales with 5 longer squamellae awned from a bifid (two pronged) apex

(south Texas near the Rio Grande)

Wright's Pricklyleaf Thymophylla tenuiloba var. wrightii

leaves mostly spatulate, entire, sometimes with a few lateral lobes; pappus of 10-12 squamellae, about 3mm long incuding the 3-5 awns

(confined to sandy soils of the Coastal Plain)

Asteraceae (Compositae) - Sunflower family

? Common Name **zy 11** Scientific Name

Flower about 1/2" wide with a large domed center.  Leaves are small thick spikes at base only.  Mounding plant grows to about 2" high with flowers at 4"-8" high.