Toothleaf

Viguiera dentata, known as toothleaf goldeneye or sunflower goldeneye, is an erect perennial herb or weak subshrub of the Asteraceae native to the southern United States, Mexico, and Central America. Plants grow 0.5-2.5 m tall, with slender, often reddish, sparsely hairy stems branching in the upper portion. The opposite to subopposite leaves are ovate to lanceolate, 4-10 cm long and 1.5-5 cm wide, with three prominent veins from the base, finely toothed margins, and a scabrid surface clothed in short stiff hairs. The plant produces showy, sunflower-like flower heads 2-4 cm across in open terminal panicles in autumn; each head bears 10-15 bright yellow ray florets surrounding a yellow disc, subtended by lanceolate, green, somewhat reflexed phyllaries. The achenes are dark, four-angled, and tipped with two short awns and a few scales. The species favours rocky limestone slopes, oak-juniper woodland, scrub, roadsides, and disturbed ground, where it is an important late-season nectar source for bees.