Desert Marigold
Baileya multiradiata
Photographed in Maricopa Co., Arizona. The insect is an assassin bug, Zelus and will predate pollinators attracted by the perfume and offer of nectar.
Photo of Baileya multiradiata (desert marigold) in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada, taken April 2005 by User:Stan Shebs
FLOWERS: Large, showy, pure yellow sunflowers with many ray and many
disc florets.
PERENNIAL : Plants survive several seasons producing an abundance of
blooms in spring and then sporadically at other times of the year. Plants
generally less than 1 meter.
LEAVES: Pinnatifid leaves are clustered especially at base of plant
and are variously clothed in thick pubescence.
RANGE: Common throughout the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and Mexico and
also into the Mojave and Chihuahuan Deserts. Roadsides and washes. Widely
cultivated in xeriscape gardens.
FRUIT: The relatively large (4 mm) sunflower-like seeds lack a
pappus.
UNARMED