| Grassland Tarweed |
| Deinandra increscens |
| Family: Asteraceae (Aster) |
| Flowers — color: yellow, size: 1/4", type: daisy (compound) |
Grassland Tarweed has a yellow daisy-like flower. The flower head holds about eight ray florets and over a dozen disk florets have brown anthers. Each ray floret ends with one or two notches.
The single main flower stem branches frequently. Each branch ends in a loose panicle: each branch from the main stem has several blooms on shorter stems. I saw a specimen in a ditch that held a hundred flower blooms and buds in a tall array.
Habit:
Grassland Tarweed is an annual herb. It starts as a rosette of leaves that wither as the single flower stem grows, reaching a height ranging from six inches to three feet. The stem and its branches have fine hairs. The leaves on this stem are short and needle-like. They seem to disappear during the late blooming period. The common name refers to the tarweed's odor, perhaps resins that reduce water evaporation.
The Chumash ate the seeds and used dried plants for brooms. Two photos show specimens growing in the channel of a vernal pool that fills with water during the rainy season. Sunny open, grassy areas.
Releated to the endangered Gaviota Tarplant, Deinandra increscens ssp. villosa, which ranges from Gaviota to Guadalupe. This plant delayed the development of a wind farm on the ridge south of Lompoc — it has become the 'Gaviota Tarplant Ranch Preserve'.
Observations:
Slopes north of open part of Oak Hill Dr.