Verbesina Species, American Dogweed, Butter Daisy, Cowpen Daisy, Golden Crownbeard

Here in zone 8b this beautiful plant is in full bloom on January 1, 2012 and has been blooming since September. It is a gorgeous plant an...Read Mored a real addition to a season where not a lot of blooms are present. It really attracts the pollinators! I will post a photo soon since there is only one in plantfiles.

Golden crownbeard, scientific name, Verbesina encelioides, is in the Asteraceae familly of annual flowering shrubs. It is native from Nor...Read Moreth America to the tropics, where it grows in stands from 1 to 5 feet tall from sea level to 9,000 feet elevation. As an invasive weed on Midway, it grows aggressively in stands up to 8 feet tall in soils, sand, and between cracks in asphalt. It shades out native vegetation and competes for nutrients and water (though it is drought tolerant, requiring only monthly watering once established). It also produces chemicals toxic to native plants. Flowers produce up to 350 seeds by both cross- and self-pollination. Stands self-seed annually and are dispersed by wind The seeds exhibit highest rate of germination in open, disturbed areas with sandy soils.

Golden crownbeard affects birds in the following ways:
Birds do not build nests in existing stands of golden crownbeard, decreasing available nesting habitat.
New stands of golden crownbeard grow rapidly around existing nest sites, preventing parent birds from feeding their chicks. The chicks become trapped and are unable to reach the ocean at fledging. These chicks die of starvation.
Golden crownbeard shelters aphids, scale insects, and the ants that tend them. These ants may prey on the eggs and chicks of ground-nesting birds. The scale insects and ants are also suspected of transmitting a harmful virus from golden crownbeard to native vegetation.
Birds Affected

Golden crownbeard is reducing nesting habitat for all ground-nesting birds on Midway, but is of particular concern for nesting Laysan Albatrosses.

Control

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's golden crownbeard management program on Midway began in the late 1990s, and intensified in 2003. This very labour and time intensive program has included control by hand-pulling, mowing, and herbicide application. Native plants are propagated in areas where crownbeard has been eradicated to help restore a natural ecosystem, and prevent recolonization by crownbeard or other invasive plants.
In order to reverse the problems caused by golden crownbeard and prevent re-occurance all of the following must be done:
Prevent flowering
Remove plants, roots, and seeds
Replant disturbed areas with native plants
Monitor managed areas for new golden crownbeard growth
Monitor managed areas for many years
this came from http://www.abcbirds.org

This plant grows wild here just east of McDade, Texas. We mowed around several patches and the butterflies love it this fall...Monarchs, ...Read MoreQueens, Gulf Fritillaries, Buckeyes...mostly orange colored. The yellow flowers and the butterflies are a delight.

A well branched grayish-green plant with triangular leaves and yellow flower heads.

Common along roadsides and in pastures...Read More, rangelands, washes and field edges. It's range is MT south through eastern UT, CO, AZ , NM, TX, central Ca, KS and the eastern US.

Golden Crownbeard or Cowpen Daisy is a lovely annual that goes unappreciated much of the time because it is so common
and abundan...Read Moret.
But I love it for the bright color it brings and because it is so easy to grow.
We should give our simple wildflowers more credit and attention.