Arctotheca calendula
J. S. African Bot. 8: 284. 1942.
Plants usually stoloniferous. Leaves obovate, (2–) 5–20 (–30+) × (1–) 2–5 (–7) cm, margins pinnatisect (lyrate to runcinate), remotely prickly, abaxial faces white-pannose, adaxial faces sparsely puberulent to arachnose, usually glandular as well. Heads 4–7 cm diam. (across the rays). Phyllaries: outer reflexed, apices mucronate, white-woolly; inner appressed, margins hyaline, apices rounded, glabrous. Ray-florets 11–17 (–25); corolla laminae abaxially greenish to purplish, adaxially yellow (drying to basally ochroleucous, apically blue, forming bull’s eye around disc), 10–25 × 2–4 mm, sparsely puberulent, glandular. Disc-florets: corollas yellow proximally, bluish distally. Cypselae dark-brown, 3 mm, densely woolly; pappi ca. 0.5 mm (usually hidden by hairs on cypselae).
Phenology: Flowering Oct–Aug.
Habitat: Roadsides, old fields, other disturbed habitats
Elevation: 0–300 m
Distribution
Introduced; Calif., Africa
Discussion
Most populations of Arctotheca calendula are sterile and spread aggressively by stolons; at least three populations in the flora are fertile and highly invasive. The species is listed by the California Exotic Pest Plant Council (CalEPPC) as a weed with the potential to spread explosively (Red Alert, CDFA A).
Selected References
None.