Dimorphotheca ecklonis

Blue & white daisybush

Family: Asteraceae · Type: shrub · Not Native

Blue and white daisybush is a naturalized shrub found in coastal California regions including the Central Coast, Southern Coast, and Peninsular Ranges in disturbed places and beaches at elevations below 200 meters. Flowering from March to July (and potentially year-round in cultivation), this plant produces distinctive ray flowers that are white adaxially and blue-purple abaxially, creating a striking two-toned appearance in flower heads 4 to 7 centimeters wide. Growing up to 1 meter tall with erect or ascending branches, the shrub has a puberulent texture with stems that branch distally or throughout. Its leaves range from 3 to 6 centimeters long, varying from linear-oblong to obovate, with proximal leaves wing-petioled and distal leaves nearly sessile, and are slightly fleshy with entire or sparingly dentate edges. The flower heads feature lance-linear phyllaries 12 to 15 millimeters long with narrowly scarious margins, creating a distinctive bell-shaped involucre.

Habitat: Uncommon. Disturbed places, beaches; escape from cultivation

Bloom period: Generally Mar-Jul(+- all year in cultivation)

Elevation: < 200 m

Bioregions: CCo, SCo, PR

California counties: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, San Diego

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.