Spring Wildflowers - Crown Tickseed

While out for an evening walk around the property, I came across this beauty and stopped to take a picture. If you can't stop to smell the flowers while on a walk, you're doing it wrong. The name of this bright flower comes from the brick red markings on the yellow petals that "crown" the center of the flower. The tickseed part derives from somebody who thought the seeds of this flower looked like ticks. This native annual prefers sandy soil and is drought tolerant, which makes it ideal for xeriscaping. And although this particular flower is Texas endemic, the species of coreopsis flowers to which it belongs is actually the state wildflower of Florida due to their extensive plantings of this species along roadways. The Crown Tickseed belongs in the daisy family and is attractive to bees and butterflies, which is always good.