What does coreopsis mean?
Coreopsis is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy (Asteraceae) family, native chiefly to North America and widely grown in gardens for their cheerful, long-blooming, daisy-like flowers in shades of yellow, gold, orange, pink, and red — often with contrasting centres. Commonly known as tickseed, the name refers to the small, dark, insect-like shape of the seeds, which is also the source of the botanical name itself, coined from Greek roots meaning 'bedbug appearance'. Ranging from compact annual varieties to hardy perennials such as threadleaf coreopsis, these sun-loving plants are prized by gardeners for their tolerance of poor, dry soils and their appeal to butterflies and pollinators. In usage, the word appears almost exclusively in horticultural, botanical, and gardening contexts, serving both as a formal scientific genus name and as an ordinary common noun. Its plural is generally left unchanged, and it is frequently paired with cultivar names such as 'Moonbeam' and 'Early Sunrise'. Cheerful and low-maintenance, coreopsis has become a staple of borders, meadows, and pollinator gardens across temperate regions.
nounA genus of North American flowering plants in the daisy family, grown as ornamental annuals or perennials and bearing yellow, orange, pink, or bicoloured daisy-like flowers; also called tickseed.
- Any plant of the genus Coreopsis, an ornamental daisy-family flower commonly called tickseed.
"The border blazed all summer with golden coreopsis, drawing butterflies from every corner of the garden."
"She scattered coreopsis seeds along the sunny fence line in early spring."
"Threadleaf coreopsis 'Moonbeam' earned the Perennial Plant of the Year award for its clouds of pale lemon blooms."
Standard usage leaves the plural unmarked, treating each plant individually; the inflected form 'coreopsises' is rare and informal.
"Several coreopsis were planted along the south-facing border."
Its name literally means 'bedbug-like' — the tiny dark seeds look so much like insects that botanists named the whole genus after them.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of coreopsis
Coreopsis derives from New Latin, adopted into Linnaean botanical nomenclature in the 18th century from the Greek elements 'koris' (bedbug) and 'opsis' (appearance), a reference to the seed's resemblance to a bug or tick. The same Greek root 'koris' is thought to underlie the name of coriander, whose unripe foliage was said to smell bedbug-like. Related 'opsis'-derived words such as synopsis and autopsy share only the Greek suffix element, not the bedbug root.
How coreopsis is actually used
Coreopsis functions as both the scientific genus name (capitalised in botanical writing, italicised under nomenclatural convention) and a common lowercase noun in gardening contexts. The plural is typically unchanged (coreopsis), though 'coreopsises' occasionally appears informally. In everyday use it is almost entirely restricted to horticultural register.
Easily confused with coreopsis
Both are daisy-family garden flowers, but cosmos belongs to the genus Cosmos while coreopsis (tickseed) is a separate genus with smaller, often bicoloured blooms and distinctive bug-shaped seeds.