''Melampodium'' is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the sunflower family. These are rugged plants native to the tropical to subtropical regions that include

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. Most of the species can be found in Mexico, five in the Southwestern United States, and three are scattered in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

.Flora of North America Vol. 21 Page 34 ''Melampodium'' Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 921. 1753; Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 392. 1754.
/ref> Some sources say that the name ''Melampodium'' is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

words μέλας (''melas''), meaning "black", and πόδιον (''podion''), meaning "foot". This refers to the color of the base of the stem and roots. Members of the genus are commonly known as blackfoots. Other authorities, however, maintain that this is in error, that the name comes from

Melampus In Greek mythology, Melampus (; grc, Μελάμπους, ''Melampous'') was a legendary soothsayer and healer, originally of Pylos, who ruled at Argos. He was the introducer of the worship of Dionysus, according to Herodotus, who asserted th ...

, a soothsayer of renown in

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

. The genus consists of annuals and

perennials A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widel ...

or bushy plants, growing to a height of 1 m. When fully grown, they tend to fall over. They like average, well-drained soil, but can equally grow on rocky soil in deserts. They are moderately to highly drought- and heat-tolerant. Three species of the so-called white-rayed complex are

xerophytic A xerophyte (from Greek ξηρός ''xeros'' 'dry' + φυτόν ''phuton'' 'plant') is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water, such as a desert such as the Sahara or places in the Alps or th ...

. The

foliage A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

varies from bright green to grey-green. The

opposite leaves In botany, phyllotaxis () or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem. Phyllotactic spirals form a distinctive class of patterns in nature. Leaf arrangement The basic arrangements of leaves on a stem are opposite and alternat ...

are narrow and about 2–5 cm long. The terminal

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

heads are about 2.5 cm wide. They give a continuous display of white (only in the three species of the white-rayed complex), cream, or yellow daisylike ray florets, surrounding a darker orange center with the disc florets. These eight to 10 broad disc florets are functionally staminate. The five outer

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s are partially joined for about half their length. The numerous

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

s are seed-like (they consist of inner involucral bracts each enclosing and fused with individual ray achenes), with a few narrow scales at their tip. They make this genus one of the most prolific of the summer annuals, with seedlings coming up constantly. The genus displays a large number of haploid

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

numbers are based on 4 basic chromosome numbers (x = 9, 10, 11, 12). Several

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

s of ''Melampodium leucanthum'' have been developed, such as 'Million Gold' and 'Showstar', mostly to achieve a more compact size. Note: ''Melampodium'' has been labelled ''

Sanvitalia ''Sanvitalia'' ), the creeping zinnias, is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Asteraceae. They are native to mostly to Mexico, with a few species in Central America, South America, and the Southwestern United States. ; Species * ...

speciosa'' in the horticultural trade, but this is an invalid name.

Species

; Species * '' Melampodium americanum'' - Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico (from Tamaulipas to Chiapas)Berendsohn, W.G. & A.E. Araniva de González. 1989. Listado básico de la Flora Salvadorensis: Dicotyledonae, Sympetalae (pro parte): Labiatae, Bignoniaceae, Acanthaceae, Pedaliaceae, Martyniaceae, Gesneriaceae, Compositae. Cuscatlania 1(3): 290–1–290–13 * '' Melampodium appendiculatum'' - Chihuahua, Sonora, Nayarit, Arizona * '' Melampodium argophyllum'' - Coahuila, Nuevo León * ''

Melampodium aureum ''Melampodium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the Asteraceae, sunflower family. These are rugged plants native to the tropical to subtropical regions that include Central America, Southwestern United States, California, Florida, the Caribbea ...

'' - Puebla, Oaxaca * '' Melampodium bibractatum'' -

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

State of Mexico The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...

, Guatemala * '' Melampodium cinereum'' - Coahuila, Nuevo León, Texas, Missouri * '' Melampodium costaricense'' - Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, Nicaragua, Colombia * '' Melampodium cupulatum'' - Sonora, Sinaloa, Jalisco, Baja California Sur * '' Melampodium diffusum'' - Oaxaca, Philippines (probably introduced) * ''

Melampodium divaricatum ''Melampodium divaricatum'', also known by its common name gold medallion is a species of flowering plant from the genus ''Melampodium''.DC. In: Prod. 5: 520. (1836). The species was first described in 1836. References

Millerieae Plant ...

'' - Brazil, Bolivia, West Indies, Venezuela, Colombia, Central America, Mexico, United States ( FL AL LA AR) * '' Melampodium glabribracteatum'' - Oaxaca * '' Melampodium glabrum'' - Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacán * '' Melampodium gracile'' - Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, Mexico (from Tamaulipas to Chiapas) * ''

Melampodium leucanthum ''Melampodium leucanthum'', the plains blackfoot or blackfoot daisy, is an herbaceous perennial plant in the family Asteraceae found on limestone-containing rocky slopes in the Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a d ...

'' - Chihuahua, USA ( TX NM AZ OK KS CO) * '' Melampodium linearilobum'' - Mexico, Central America * '' Melampodium longicorne'' - Sonora, Arizona, New Mexico * '' Melampodium longifolium'' - Mexico * '' Melampodium longipes'' - Jalisco * '' Melampodium longipilum'' - from Guatemala to San Luis Potosí * '' Melampodium mayfieldii'' - Jalisco * '' Melampodium microcephalum'' - from Guatemala to Jalisco * '' Melampodium mimulifolium'' - Oaxaca * '' Melampodium montanum'' - from Guatemala to Jalisco + San Luis Potosí * '' Melampodium nayaritense'' - Durango, Nayarit * '' Melampodium northingtonii'' - Oaxaca * '' Melampodium nutans'' - Oaxaca, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán * '' Melampodium paniculatum'' - from Oaxaca to Brazil * '' Melampodium percussum'' * '' Melampodium perfoliatum'' - Mexico, Central America, Cuba, California * '' Melampodium pilosum'' - Guerrero, Michoacan * '' Melampodium pringlei'' - Oaxaca, Puebla * '' Melampodium repens'' - Veracruz * '' Melampodium rosei'' - Sinaloa, Jalisco, Nayarit * '' Melampodium sericeum'' - Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador * '' Melampodium sinaloense'' - Sinaloa * '' Melampodium sinuatum'' - Baja California Sur * '' Melampodium strigosum'' - Chihuahua, Durango, D.F., Mexico State, Hidalgo, United States ( AZ NM TX CO) * '' Melampodium tenellum'' - Nayarit * '' Melampodium tepicense'' - Nayarit, Jalisco

Formerly placed here

* ''

Acanthospermum australe ''Acanthospermum australe'' (Paraguayan starburr, ihi kukae hipa, Paraguay bur, Paraquay starbur, pipili, sheepbur, or spiny-bur) is a South American species of herbaceous plants first described as a species in 1758. Distribution The species i ...

'' (Loefl.) Kuntze (as ''M. australe'' Loefl.) * '' Acanthospermum humile'' (Sw.) DC. (as ''M. humile'' Sw.) * ''

Eleutheranthera ruderalis ''Eleutheranthera'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonl ...

'' (Sw.) Sch.Bip. (as ''M. ruderale'' Sw.)

References

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1708544 Millerieae Asteraceae genera