''Layia platyglossa'', commonly called coastal tidytips, is an

annual Annual may refer to: *Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year **Yearbook **Literary annual *Annual plant *Annual report *Annual giving *Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco *Annuals (band), a ...

wildflower of the family

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

, native to western North America.

Distribution

Tidytips was formerly found throughout low-elevation dry habitats in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

including the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

and into

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

.USDA
. accessed 11/10/2010 In pre-European times this plant was common in solid stands at lower elevations. Found in grassy valley floors, slopes of hills, openings in

coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is ...

and

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...

, coastal plains, and in the High Desert. A member of Spring wildflower 'displays,' blooming March to June. This species is also found in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, in the state of

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

. It can be commonly found from

Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...

south to the

Sierra de La Asamblea The Sierra de La Asamblea, also referred to as San Luis, Sierra de Yuba, or Sierra de Jubai, is an isolated mountain range in Baja California. The range reaches a height of 1,661 metres, and is separated from southernmost end of the Sierra de San ...

in the central part of the state. It is also found on

Guadalupe Island Guadalupe Island () is a volcanic island located off the western coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula and about southwest of the city of Ensenada in the state of Baja California, in the Pacific Ocean. The various volcanoes are extinc ...

in the Pacific Ocean.

Description

''Layia platyglossa'' is an annual, glandular, daisy like plant with narrow, rough hairy leaves. The height of the entire plant is less than , roughly around wide. The roots are usually taproots, sometimes fibrous.Munz, Philip A.; "Introduction to California Spring Wildflowers of the Foothills, Valleys, and Coast. California" — University of California Press; Berkeley, 2004. The leaves at the upper part of the stem are short and have a pilous texture. The leaves at the basal part of the stem can be dentate to pinnate shaped with rotund short lobes. The lower leaves are generally lobed and the upper leaves are entire. Leaves usually alternate or opposite, and the blades are usually simple, rarely compound. ;Flowers The plant is an indeterminate

zygomorphic Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spir ...

inflorescent, individual heads are borne on a peduncle. The stems are usually erect, prostrate or decumbent to ascending, and are stout and corymbed branched. The flower heads are composed of five to eighteen yellow ray flowers with white tips and many central yellow disk flowers. Its outer ray flowers are bright golden yellow with distinct, sharp-margined white tips. The bracts tips are rounded and involucre 6–12 mm high. The corolla is 4–6 mm long. The ray flowers are 3–3.8 mm long and the disk flowers are 2.8–5 mm long. The ligules are 6–15 mm long and 5–10 mm wide. The florets are bisexual, pistillate, functionally staminate or neuter. The sepals are highly modified. Pollination is done by insects. The fruits are usually dry with thick, tough pericarps, sometimes rostrate and/or winged. Dispersion is done by the help from ''

pappi In Asteraceae, the pappus is the modified calyx_(botany), calyx, the part of an individual floret, that surrounds the base of the petal, corolla tube in flower. It functions as a dispersal mechanism for the achenes that contain the seeds. In ...

'' (dispersal of fruit by wind). Seeds are one per fruit, embryos straight.

Cultivation

;Ornamental ''Layia platyglossa'' is cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

. It is often an ingredient in commercial wildflower seed mixes. The daisy-like flowers are attractive, making it a popular

flower in traditional

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

wildlife garden A wildlife garden (or habitat garden or backyard restoration) is an Biophysical environment, environment created with the purpose to serve as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater t ...

s, and

habitat garden A wildlife garden (or habitat garden or backyard restoration) is an environment created with the purpose to serve as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater to native and local plan ...

s.Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Native Plant Database: ''Layia platyglossa''
. accessed 10.1.2013Las Pilitas Horticultural Database: ''Layia platyglossa'' (Tidy Tips)
. accessed 10.1.2013 ;Restoration The wildflower is used in

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

restoration projects, and is a

pollinator A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female carpel, stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains. Insects are ...

supportive plant. The ripe seeds are a food source for birds.

Gallery

File:Layia platyglossa.JPG File:Bright6.jpg File:Layia platyglossa-1.jpg

References

*Abrams, Leroy, and Stinchfield, Roxana; "Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States. Vol IV: Bignonias to Sunflowers" — California: Stanford University Press, 1960.

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment — ''Layia platyglossa''Calflora Database: ''Layia platyglossa''USDA Plants Profile for ''Layia platyglossa'' (tidy tips)
— ''plant data, distribution map''.
''Layia platyglossa'' — U.C. Calphoto gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6505577 platyglossa Flora of Arizona Flora of California Flora of Utah Flora of Baja California Flora of Guadalupe Island Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Klamath Mountains Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Central Valley (California) Natural history of the Mojave Desert Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the Santa Monica Mountains Bird food plants Garden plants of North America Flora without expected TNC conservation status