Scientific Name: Baileya multiradiata
Common Name: Desert Marigold
Family: Asteraceae, Aster or Sunflower Family
Duration: Annual, Biennial or short lived Perennial
Size: 18 inches or so.
Growth Form: Forb/herb; forms clumps of mounding gray woolly plants covered with dense, fine grayish-white hairs (tomentose), branching at base.
Leaves: Greenish-gray or silvery-green; mostly basal and on lower stems; woolly or canescent, pinnately lobed with linear lobes, up to 3.5 inches.
Flower Color: Bright yellow; large, 1 or 2 inch showy solitary flower heads; radiate heads on ends of naked stems up to 12 inches; numerous ray florets up to 50 or more, disk florets also numerous; fruit an achene.
Flowering Season: March to November.
Comments: Sometimes referred to as the workhorse of the desert. Often seen along the roadways in Desert Mountain and elsewhere. Desert Marigold wildflower seeds are available, and if given some supplemental water during dry periods, this attractive plant has an amazingly long blooming season.