Lance Leaf Coreopsis

Repost, last year same time, and yup - the clock of the world is running on time, complet with washout rain.

Common: Lance Leaf Coreopsis

or Lance-leaf tickseed

Coreopsis Lanceolata

Family: Asteraceae

The family Asteraceae or Compositae (known as the aster, daisy, or sunflower family) is the largest family of flowering plants in terms of number of species (and are noted for complex centers, each containg many "micro" flowers)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteraceae

all Pics, May 6, 2008, Highway 64 just east of Conway, AR

Because of the "lancing" each Lance Leaf Coreopis appears to have many petals, however, each flower comes with only eight.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=COLA5

Tick seed

All images, late September, Early October (2003/04)

Bidens aristosa

http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/bidensaris.html

Bidens coronata

Bidens polylepis (?)

http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/wetland/plants/ts_sunflower.htm

http://www.pbase.com/1designguy/image/33539701

A quick look at the Internet shows that there are actually dozens of flowers that are called Tickseed, though I think this one is most commonly identified as such. (Some of the plants that hold this name are members of the same family, while sometimes the title seems loosely applied to any kind of yellow daisy.

Like the Willow-leaf Sunflower, this member of the sunflower family grows in big hedgey bunches, and is a dominate part of Arkansas's Indian-summer landscape. It might be indistinguishable from the Willow-leaf sunflower except for these attributes: the Tickseed sunflower has 8 petals, opposed to the Willow-leaf's fourteen. Beyond that, the bloom has a notable cup shape, and the leaves are slightly thicker with a jagged edge.