TIDY-TIPS (Layia platygUssa, Gray). Flower heads about 

 an inch in diameter, ray flowers yellow, usually tipped with 

 white, the disk flowers yellow with black anthers; borne singly 

 at the tips of the stems. Leaves alternate, narrow, without 

 footstalks, more or less toothed and hairy, some of the upper 

 deeply cut. Simple or branching, hairy annuals, 1 to 3 feet 

 high, blooming from April till June, in valleys and on sunny 

 mesas throughout western and southern California. 



The common name most appropriately describes this neat 

 little wilding, which captivates all hearts. There is consider- 

 able variation in the flower, the white tips being sometimes 

 absent or occasionally turned to purple. There is another 

 Layia, common from Santa Barbara southward into Lower 

 California, which may be confused with Tidy-tips, and that is 

 Layia 6legans, T. & G. The rays, however, are more usually 

 altogether yellow than white-tipped. An essential difference, 

 however, is in the character of the pappus. This in Tidy- 

 tips consists of awn-like bristles, which are naked their whole 

 length, while in Layia elegans the bristles below the middle 

 are feathered or white-hairy. 



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