Family: Asteraceae

This species is an excellent wildlife plant, and a magnificent bloomer--sending out flowers almost any time of year. Grows about 12-15ft tall.

Grow in part to full sun (the more sun it is in, the more water you may need to apply). Regular water. Hardy to at least 20°F--the tips of the branches will get nipped with frosts but the plant grows out of the frost damage quickly.

Nectar-feeding insects like butterflies and bees love the flowers. Seed-eating birds like goldfinches love the seeds. Butterfly larval host for the Crocale Bordered Patch (Chlosyne lacinia ssp. crocale) and the painted lady (Vanessa cardui).

The plant is widely used in several countries such as Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Mexico, the Philippines, São Tomé and Príncipe, Taiwan, Uganda, and Venezuela to traditionally treat numerous diseases including diabetes, malaria, snake bite, measles, gastric ulcer, menstrual pains, and wounds.

The genus, Tithonia, comes from the Latin Tithon, who was the husband of Aurora the goddess of dawn in Roman mythology and Latin poetry. The species, diversifolia, comes from the Latin words diversus (divergent) and folium (leaf), which together mean "differently-shaped leaves". This refers to the plant's variable foliage, where the leaves alternate on opposite sides of the stem. There are 13 species of Tithonia with a center of distribution in Mexico but with one species extending into the Southwestern United States and several native to Central America.

This species is native to Mexico and Central America.

Photo by Chuck Sexton, iNaturalist