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Tithonia rotundifolia
Also called Mexican Sunflower, Red Sunflower, Sunflower, Mexican Sunflower, Mexican Marigold, Red Mexican Sunflower
Tithonia rotundifolia, the Mexican sunflower, is an annual in most gardens (perennial only in frost-free tropics) grown for its bright orange to red daisy-like flowers from mid-summer to frost. It needs full sun, well-drained soil and shelter from wind, since its stems are brittle.
Tithonia rotundifolia, the red sunflower or Mexican sunflower, is a plant in the family Asteraceae whose native range is Mexico to Central America and which grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.
Due to its characteristics, it is usually used in hedges to form a background for other smaller plants. It requires poor to average, well-drained soil in an area protected from the wind to prevent its brittle stems from bending or breaking. It is propagated from seeds. Seedlings are planted 30–50 centimeters apart. It requires a sunny plant site and fresh, nutrient-rich soil with plenty of humus. It tolerates drought well, but it still needs water during long periods of drought. The plant produces flowers from mid-summer until frost.
It occurs in Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Mexico, Central America, Thailand, and the West Indies on fields, in woody plants and ruderally at altitudes below 1000 meters on the edges of roads and highways, as well as in other disturbed areas. Outside its native region it is sometimes grown as an ornamental and has become naturalized in some of these locales. In Africa it has been recorded up to an altitude of 1,580 m above sea level.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Tithonia rotundifolia 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.
