Berlandiera lyrata

Berlandiera lyrata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Compositae
Genus:	Berlandiera
Species:	B. lyrata
Binomial name
Berlandiera lyrata Benth.
Synonyms
Berlandiera incisa Torr. & A.Gray

Berlandiera incisa Torr. & A.Gray

Berlandiera lyrata, with the common names chocolate flower, chocolate daisy, or lyreleaf greeneyes, is a North American species of flowering plant in the sunflower family. The common name lyreleaf greeneyes is a reference to the shape of the leaf, which is curved like a lyre and the green disc which is left behind when the ray florets drop off which is thought to look like an eye.

The flower head is approximately 1.0 inch (2.54 cm) in diameter, with yellow ray florets and which grows with an "airy habit." The leaves are pinnately lobed or scalloped. In areas that freeze, the flowers bloom at night from spring until frost. When the plant freezes, it will "seem to disappear" with the roots alive, but dormant in the soil. In frost-free ares, it will bloom year-round. Around mid-morning, the flowers close or drop. The process of the flower head losing the ray florets is due to a change in temperature: as it gets hotter, the flower begins to turn white and then the ray florets begin to drop, leaving the green disc shape. The plant grows to be about 1–2 feet (30–60 cm) in height.

In the United States, the species is native to Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. In Mexico, it is native to Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Durango, Sonora, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes and Jalisco.

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Wikipedia