Facelis retusa, the annual trampweed, is a small trailing annual daisy from South America that has spread as a weed in parts of North America, Africa and Australia. It is grown mainly as a wild or weedy plant rather than a garden ornamental, so there is little cultivation guidance.
Family
Asteraceae (Daisy family)
Grows as
Annual
Light
Full sun
Water
Tolerates dry conditions once established; water only in prolonged drought.
Soil
Poor to ordinary, well-drained soil; it thrives on disturbed ground.
Temperature
Warm to mild conditions; frost-sensitive, a short-lived annual in cold climates.
How easy
Easy
Native range
C. & SE. U.S.A., S. Brazil to S. South America
About
Facelis retusa, the annual trampweed, is a South American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, northern Argentina, Chile; naturalized in parts of Africa, Australia, and North America including the southeastern and south-central United States, and considered as a noxious weed in some of those places.
Facelis retusa is an annual herb with the stems up to 30 cm (1-foot) long, very often trailing along the surface of the ground. Leaves are crowded along the stem, each up to 3 cm (1 in) long. Flower heads are in clusters, with white or purple disc flowers but no ray flowers. The achene has several long, feathery bristles that give a white appearance and assure effective seed dispersal.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Facelis retusa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.