Coreopsis tinctoria
Family: Asteraceae
Plant Description: Annual to 50 m high with 1- to 2-pinnately compound leaves, linear to lanceolate, opposite. Flower heads 2-3 cm wide, solitary. Disks red-brown, rays yellow with purple-brown base. Stems hairless.
Plant Trivia: Two subspecies. C. tinctoria similis resembles the typical variety but differs in branching from base and having pappus awns 0.02-1 mm long. Usually on sandy low grounds but evidently intergrating with some variety inland. Blooms mostly in spring. C. tinctoria tinctoria has wingless achenes.
Field Identification:
Occurrence: Common on various low and damp grounds, mostly in prairies, swales, and ditches. Mostly a spring bloomer.
Bloom Period: Spring – Fall
Plant Use: Showy. Great landscaping plant
Key to the species of Coreopsis:
- Phyllaries of outer row 1-2 mm long……………………………………….C. tinctoria
Phyllaries of outer row 4-9 mm long…………………………………………………………2
2. Disk flowers red-brown………………………………………………………………….C. basalis
Disk flowers yellow or light brown…………………………………………………………….3
3. Inner phyllaries glabrous…………………………………………………..C. nuecensoides
Inner phyllaries ciliate with bristles……………………………………….C. nuecensis
stxflora 