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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-1075
Greenthread
Thelesperma filifolium
Greenthread is a wispy, thread-leaved annual wildflower that carries small yellow daisy blooms from spring into summer, sometimes flowering on and off through a mild winter. Bees and butterflies work the flowers heavily, and it is one of the few plants that feeds the dwarf yellow butterfly's caterpillars as well as the adults; the seed that follows draws seed-eating birds. It thrives on hot, dry, sun-baked ground - sand, caliche, limestone or heavy clay all suit it as long as drainage is sharp - and spreads only by seed, forming loose colonies on open, disturbed dirt. Despite going by the name Navajo tea in some catalogs, it is not the greenthread that is actually brewed - that is a different, closely related species.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 5–11
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 6.6–8.5
- Plant type
- Annual
- Mature height
- 10–30 in
- Mature spread
- Not yet recorded
- Plant spacing
- 15–24 in
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
Similar plants
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Adzuki Bean
Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H.Ohashi
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Herbaceous · USDA 3–11
Agrimony
Agrimonia eupatoria
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Alfalfa
Medicago sativa
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Aloe Vera
Aloe vera
Aloe Vera is a stemless, clump-forming succulent with thick, spiny-edged leaves that store a clear gel used to soothe burns, wounds and skin…
Herbaceous · USDA 10–12
Anise
Pimpinella anisum
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Herbaceous · USDA 4–9
Anise Hyssop
Agastache foeniculum
Anise hyssop is a genuine dual-purpose herb: the leaves and flowers taste like sweet anise and work raw, cooked, or steeped for tea, and the…
Herbaceous · USDA 4–8
The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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