Alternate name: Lanceleaf Tickseed
Family: Asteraceae, Aster view all from this family
Description Solitary yellow daisy-like flower heads bloom on long stalks.
Flowers: heads 2-2 1/2" (5-6.3 cm) wide; 8 yellow ray flowers with 3-4 notches at tips and numerous yellow disk flowers; outer bracts surrounding flower head shorter than inner ones.
Leaves: lower and basal 3-6" (7.5-15 cm) long, short-stalked, elliptic to linear, occasionally lobed; upper leaves few, opposite, unstalked, linear to oblong.
Fruit: 1-seeded, dry, winged, with 2 terminal scales.
Flower May-July.
Habitat Sandy or rocky soil, disturbed areas.
Range Virginia south to Florida; west to Louisiana; north to Missouri, Illinois, and Michigan. Escaped from cultivation north to New England.
Discussion This native species has branching stems at base and often forms sizable colonies along roadsides and in old fields. A southern species, Greater Tickseed (C. major), 2-3' (60-90 cm) tall, has sunflower-like flower heads 1-2" (2.5-5 cm) wide and opposite leaves deeply segmented into 3 parts, appearing as a whorl of 6. Nearly a dozen other perennial yellow-flowered Coreopsis species occur in the East.
