Stats

Lifespan

Annual

Size

Medium

Diet

Photosynthetic

Biome

Temperate grassland

Range

North America

Movement

Sessile

Breeding

Seeds

Defense

Toxins

Status

Uncommon

About

Telegraphweed is a tall, resinous annual or biennial native to California and Baja California that thrives on roadsides, vacant lots, and other disturbed soils. Its common name comes from its prolific colonisation of the cleared rights-of-way along old telegraph lines, and it puts on cheerful yellow daisy-like flower heads nearly year-round.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   seed

   A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2. 2.
   sprout

   A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3. 3.
   sapling

   A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4. 4.
   mature

   Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Magnoliopsida

Order

Asterales

Family

Asteraceae

Genus

Heterotheca

Species

Heterotheca grandiflora