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Asteraceae family

Otay Tarweed Deinandra conjugens

Native Specialist-bee host

Otay Tarweed is an annual wildflower native to the lower 48 states. It blooms May – Aug. A host for pollen-specialist native bees.

More about this plant

Deinandra conjugens is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names Otay tarplant and Otay tarweed. It is native to a small section of far northern Baja California in Mexico, its range extending north into San Diego County, California, in the United States. One isolated population has been reported from the hills east of Cayucos in San Luis Obispo County. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness
Hardiness
≥ zone 11 derived from its U.S. range
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Annual
In the garden
Herb layer — Sits in the herb of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
The garden year bloom → fruit → fall colour
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Bloom
Bloom (the flower's colour)
Bloom · May – Aug — 62 obs · Herbarium specimens — Park et al. 2023 (CC BY 4.0)
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
✦ Bees specialist-bee host · 11 bee visitors

Specialist native bees depend on it.

Some native bees are pollen specialists (oligolectic) — they raise young only on pollen from particular plant genera. Deinandra is a recorded specialist-bee host, so losing it can mean losing the bee that relies on it.

Xerces pollinator conservation →

11 native & managed bee species are documented visiting Otay Tarweed :

Anthophorula nitens Diadasia bituberculata · chimney bee · ✦ specialist Anthophorula torticornis Diadasia australis · chimney bee · ✦ specialist Ceratina nanula · Dwarf Ceratina Diadasia rinconis · chimney bee
+ 5 more bees →
Diadasia ochracea · Ochraceous Chimney Bee · ✦ specialist Peponapis pruinosa · Pruinose Squash Bee · ✦ specialist Ceratina acantha · Prickly Ceratina Diadasia angusticeps · chimney bee · ✦ specialist Diadasia opuntiae · chimney bee · ✦ specialist
Specialist hosts from Smith et al. 2024. Visitor records (observations, not exhaustive) from Noori et al. 2026 (CC BY 4.0) · GloBI → · ✦ = pollen-specialist bee (Smith et al. 2024)
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (15) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[07] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[08] Ecological value — GloBI · Smith et al. 2024 (CC BY)
[10] Conservation rank — NatureServe Explorer (CC BY)
[11] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones
[13] Bee specialists — Smith et al. 2024 (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0)
[14] Flower-visitor value (derived) — Noori et al. 2026 (CC BY 4.0) · GloBI
[15] County range — GBIF Open Data — open-licensed occurrences (CC0/CC-BY) → county
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PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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