Yellowray Goldfields

Botanical name: Lasthenia glabrata (Asteraceae)
Other name: Goldfields, California Goldfields

Description
This is a daisy like annual herb growing up to about half a meter in maximum height. The thin stem has a few pairs of oppositely-arranged, smooth-edged linear leaves each up to 15 centimeters long. The plant flowers in solitary or loosely clustered flower heads with golden yellow disc and ray florets. The fruit is an achene a few millimeters long with no pappus.

How to grow
An easily grown plant, succeeding in any well-drained soil, including nutritionally poor ones. It prefers a sunny position. An annual plant, germinating in the autumn and growing through the winter in California. In horticulture, most make hardy ornamental plants, suitable for flower-beds or borders. Autumn is the best time for sowing the seed, but it may also be sown early in the spring. A second flowering can be obtained from plants if they are trimmed back after flowering and before setting seed.