Melampodium – Melampodium spp. or M. paludosum

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.

Flower Color: Yellow

Availability: Year Round

While not grown very often, for those who do grow it the most common cultivar in 1999 was ‘Derby’.

• 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.