Blackfoot Daisy


1 entry found.
Picture of Blackfoot Daisy Blackfoot Daisy
Common Name: Melampodium, blackfoot daisy
Botanical Name: Melampodium spp. or M. paludosum (mel-am-PO-dee-um)
Decorative Life: Should last 4-6 plus weeks depending on environment.
Post Harvest Care:
  • Essentially no specific postharvest recommendations have been located at the time of this writing.
Harvest Instructions: While not grown very often, for those who do grow it the most common cultivar in 1999 was 'Derby'.
Family Roots:
  • Member of the Asteraceae or Compositae (aster or sunflower family).
  • Native to Central and South America.
  • Common relatives include aster, sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum, lettuce and zinnia.
Personality:
  • Plant is classed as a dicotyledon.
  • Flower heads consist of an outer row of ray flowers and inner center of disk flowers, typical of the Compositae members.
Availability: Year-round.
Flower Color: Yellow to cream ray florets with yellow disc florets.
Tidbits:
  • The Compositae or aster family is vast, with over 20,000 species, and is also one of the most developed families. It was named Compositae because the flowers are actually a "composite" of many individual flowers into one head. Hence, when children pull one "petal" off at a time, saying "she/he loves me, loves me not", they are actually removing a complete flower, not just a petal.
  • From the Greek "melas" (black) and "pous" (foot), for which the meaning is unclear.
  • One favorite cultivar is 'Showstar' that has yellow flowers.