golden aster

here is heterotheca mariana of the family asteraceae:

this particular plant has proven difficult to classify. here i show you the flower, though it be similar many of the plant listed on the USDA website, the leaf and stem of this particular plant differ greatly. my search is not aided by the quality of the majority of photos on the site.

i am confident that this plant is in the family of asteraceae but as to the genre and species, i do not know. what i do know is this picture was taken in March of 2007 by the road that leads into Mule Jail.