Kingdom Plantae Genus Dicoria Higher classification Dicoria | Order Asterales Scientific name Dicoria canescens Rank Species | |
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Similar Daisy family, Tiquilia plicata, Giant Spanish needle, Chorizanthe brevicornu, Psorothamnus emoryi | ||
Dicoria canescens is a North American flowering plant in the daisy family known by several common names including desert twinbugs and bugseed. This is a desert plant of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, found in Sonora, Baja California, southern California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, southwestern Colorado, and northwestern New Mexico.
Dicoria canescens forms thickets of many individuals in the desert sand. The distinctive lower leaves are long, pointed, sharply toothed, and covered in a coat of thin white or gray hairs. The upper leaves are smaller and more rounded. One plant can produce several whitish flower heads containing disc florets but no ray florets. Sometimes the heads form closely associated pairs, a characteristic which is the origin of the common name "twinbugs".
