Anoda cristata

Native to tropical and subtropical America, this herb usually grows as an annual, sometimes as a short-lived perennial, and reaches about 3 feet tall. It occurs in fields, along roadsides, and on disturbed ground. The five-petaled flowers are usually lavender to purplish blue, occasionally white. Its disk-shaped fruit separates into bristly, beaked segments. In Mexico, the tender leaves are eaten as a traditional vegetable known as alache. It has naturalized in Western Australia, Queensland, and New South Wales, becoming a serious agricultural weed in the latter two states. Photographed in the department of Quindio, Colombia and Peru.