Verbesina encelioides



Verbesina encelioides is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. The species is native to the Southwest United States and Northern Mexico. It is naturalized in parts of Eastern North America, the Middle East, Spain, Argentina, Australia and the Pacific islands. Common names include golden crownbeard, cowpen daisy, gold weed, wild sunflower, butter daisy, crown-beard, American dogweed, and the Spanish Añil del Muerto ("indigo of the dead").

Golden crownbeard is a summer annual with blooms resembling small sunflowers and distinctive flattened seeds.

The species responds strongly to disturbances on suitable sites. Like sunflowers, it produces allelopathic chemicals that slow the growth of other susceptible plant species. Research has identified an allelopathic effect on radishes which may explain its ability to dominate other species in some locations.

It is a larval host for the bordered patch.