Chocolate Flower

The plant

Chocolate flower (Berlandiera lyrata), also called chocolate daisy or lyreleaf greeneyes, is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Its range runs from extreme southwestern Kansas and western Texas, west to southeastern Colorado and Arizona, and south to Jalisco in central Mexico. It is a velvety-leaved perennial, usually 1 to 2 feet tall. The flower heads have yellow rays surrounding a maroon central disc. The flowers open in the morning and droop in the heat of the day. The mounded foliage is coarse and gray-green. Each flower head is about 4 cm across and carries 5 to 12 yellow ray florets. The fruit is a cypsela, a dry one-seeded fruit.

Name

The name lyreleaf greeneyes refers to the shape of the leaf, which is curved like a lyre, and to the green disc left behind when the ray florets drop off.

The genus

Berlandiera is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, found in the United States and Mexico. Its species are known generally as greeneyes.

Habitat and cultivation

Its native habitat includes dry, rocky limestone soils that drain well, and also disturbed places such as roadsides, plains, mesas and grasslands. It is a hardy perennial, cultivated as an ornamental plant. It is grown in gardens for the chocolate-like scent of its flowers. In heavy, wet soils the plant is subject to root rot. Its flowers can be used as a seasoning. The plant is drought-tolerant, grows best in full sun, and attracts pollinators such as bees and butterflies. It is propagated through seeds.

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