Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum. ssp.

Description:

The Chrysanthemum is a tricolor plant that is a summer and fall plant although in some climates when the winters are quite mild it is able to grow also in the winter and spring. It grows between 1-3 feet and it gets to about 3 feet wide. It has a deep foliage; it is showy and daisy like. The head of the flower can be 2 inches wide and comes in such colors as: purple, orange, scarlet, salmon, rose, yellow and white, with contrasting bands around a dark center. There are over 160 species of Chrysanthemum mostly native to the countries of China, Japan and Europe. Cal Trans planted it along freeways and it escaped into wild areas.

Why Chrysanthemum is undesirable:

Chrysanthemum was originally brought to this area for it's beauty, although it now has overpowered many of the native plants and is killing them. This plant has proved that it is able to grow as fast as a weed and doing just about as much damage. Even though it is not as destructive as some of the other plant pests this plant is destroying the biodiversity of many native habitats. The reason why is because it reproduces very efficiently and people do not like to kill it.