Trees of San Diego: Daisies… On a Tree?

Flowers of giant daisy tree (Podachaenium eminens). Author’s photographs

As we discover the world around us, every so often we come upon something that surprises us to the point that we are just plain astounded. Such was the case for me some twenty-five years ago, when I visited Quail Botanical Gardens (in Encinitas, San Diego County) for the first time and saw a twenty-five-foot-tall, tropical-looking tree covered with…daisies? Soft-wooded but massive, it looked like a chrysanthemum on steroids. Nicely displayed at the edge of the central lawn area, this tree had a thick basal trunk, about eighteen inches in diameter, from which many smaller trunks grew. Its dense foliage of felty, gray green leaves was truly impressive, with each leaf up to a foot across. The real surprise, though, was its flowers—both individually and for their sheer numbers. Simply put, I had never expected to see little white daisies on a tree! And not just a few daisies, but up to a hundred to a bunch. And not just a few bunches, but well over 250 clusters of flowers that completely covered the tree!

Do the math: that’s over 25,000 ...