Plants of Lost Creek

Damianita is a 1-2 ft., bushy, low-growing, aromatic, evergreen shrub with stems rising in a mounded or bouquet form from a woody base. Leaves crowded on the twigs, dark green, up to 3/8 inch long by 1/16 inch or less wide, covered with green to black glandular dots visible under a 10x hand lens. This is a very leafy plant - the narrow, fragrant foliage everywhere except on the 1-3 in. long peduncles. These extend from branch tips and bear a solitary, yellow, composite flower. The flower heads are golden yellow, 1 inch across, commonly with 8 narrow ray flowers, on slender stems at the end of the branches. Fruit very small, 1/8 inch long and with a crown of short bristles visible under a 10x hand lens.

Technically a shrub; used like a flower. Very drought-tolerant.

[Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=chme3, accessed 6/22/2025]

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Damianita puts on a good show in March-April in Lost Creek. It is ABSOLUTELY deer resistant. You can grow damianita in a very low water and sunny area. Trimming it back after a first bloom a bit will encourage more flowering. ​

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Contributed by Hilary Olson (member)