San Pedro Daisy
Lasianthaea podocephala
Family: Asteraceae
Perennial plant usually reaching 2’ tall and wide, can get slightly larger. Yellow daisy flowers appear anytime in summer into fall. Grows from thick tuberous roots.
Full to part sun, maybe avoid reflective heat. Moderate water when established. Hardiness unknown but native to as high as 8000’ in Arizona, so certainly hardy for the low desert.
Very good nectar plant for numerous pollinators. Probably a larval host but unknown.
Photo by Sue Carnahan, SEINET
Lasianthaea podocephala on iNaturalist
There are 16 species of Lasianthaea primarily in Mexico, with only this species getting into the United States. The genus, Lasianthaea, means with woolly flowers, while podocephala comes from Greek podos for food and cephala meaning head.
Found in open or shaded sites, grasslands, and forests, from 4,000-8,000 in Arizona, New Mexico, and following the Sierra Madre down into Sonora, and Chihuahua.
A typical plant as found in the Santa Rita mountains, photo by Matthew Lachiusa, iNaturalist
The flower buds are woolly (and this is where the genus gets its name), photo by Ethan on iNaturalist