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Plant Identification Guide
Soft greeneyes Berlandiera pumila
Also Known As:
Plant Family: Sunflower (Asteraceae)
Did you know? Soft green eyes is a long-living, long-blooming
ornamental plant with conspicuous flowers. The flowers have a delicious
scent of chocolate, and the plant makes a charming addition to a fragrant
garden. Latin for dwarf, or midget, this flower resembles a small sunflower.
The common name of “soft” comes from it’s velvety leaves, and “green
eyes” from the green central disk.
Identification Hints
These members of the Sunflower
family have the typical yellow
sunflower head in clusters at the top
of the plant, but have green veins in
the ray flowers (they look like petals)
or a greenish tinge with hairy or at
least sandpapery surfaces of leaves
and flower stems. This species also
has alternate egg-shaped to lanceshaped hairy leaves distributed
evenly along the stems (other species
have leaves clustered at base).
Plant Description
Plant grows in a tight clump with
erect stems, 1 to 3 ft (31 to 91 cm) tall
from a fleshy rooted crown.
Leaves: The leaves are evenly
distributed along the stems, are
oblong or oval in shape, and are 0.75
to 1.25 in (1.9 to 3.2 cm) wide. Leaf
faces are grayish and velvety. Leaf
edges are toothed.
Flowers: The broad ray and disc
flowers have more than 10 yellow
“petals” (ray florets) that reach 1 to
3 in (2.5 to 7.6 cm) across. The disk
florets, in a ring just inside the yellow
“petals” are very tiny, with red-maroon
bases and yellow tips. The center of the
flower is a chartreuse green color, as
opposed to the typical dark centers of
many flowers in the sunflower family,
hence the name “soft green eyes.” There
can be multiple flower heads per stem,
each flower head has its own peduncle,
or stalk.
Comments
Fruits: Fruits are dry pointed, ovalshaped achenes, which are small fleshy
seeds surrounded by a toughened outer
“shell.” The shell may have a paper-like
covering on the outside. Seeds are
located “standing up” in the center of
the flower. These look like sunflower
seeds you would buy at the store for a
snack.
Habitat: Found in sandy, dry soils of
sand dunes. Also found at roadsides,
and in fields, woodland borders, and
open woodlots. Texas and Oklahoma
east to South Carolina and Florida.
Bloom time: Mid-spring through
summer (April to October), depending
on location.
Information sources: Flora of North America Database
(www.efloras.org); Ladybird Johnson Wildflower
Center Database (wildflower.utexas.edu/plants/);
USDA Plants Database (plants.usda.gov); The Herb
Society of America Database (www.herbsociety.org/
promplant/bpumila.php); Photograph by G.A. Cooper
@ USDANRCS PLANTS Database
budburst.org
Timing is everything!
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