Esteve's Pincushion

Name - Esteve's Pincushion

Kid friendly? - unknown. 

Garden friendly? - quite a pretty little flower, no thorns, and seems to attract some kind of pollinators. No noticeable smell one way or the other. So, yeah, Garden friendly. The blooms last a little longer than some of the other wild flowers I've seen. 

Look alike's? - Pebble Pincushion, Bighead dusty maiden, pincushion flower. But they all look pretty, so honestly, not a big worry to misidentify this one, I wouldn't think.
Bloomed in: March 2013. Late snow and early heat both, this year.

This is a flower that showed up in my yard after I went walking in a few arroyos and picked a few seeds from random weeds to dump into my yard where a little of the rain collects during the monsoons. I simply took a few handfuls of seeds from the various dead plants, mixed it with a bit of local dirt, and dumped it on top of the rocks I've yet to remove. Here's the result:

Pretty little Esteve's Pincushion. Probably

To be honest, I'm not entirely certain this is an Esteve's Pincushion specifically, although I'd bet a lot of money on it being some kind of pincushion. But based on pictures and the internet, an Esteve's Pincushion would be my guess. 

This is a native flower, an annual, and it grew in my yard this March and has lasted into early April, longer than its neighbor flowers lasted. It's in an area with partial shade, and grew without needing water or special soil. It's not too big, maybe a foot in height. It would make a pretty addition to a garden, in my opinion, especially one where you don't wish to do any watering and have a little shade sometime during the day.

I would love to grow more of these if I can, but this is the only one to turn up in my yard. We'll see how this little one goes to seed! I didn't notice it until it had flowered, so I'm not certain what it looks like young. I hope I'll find out next year!

For more information and pictures, check it out here:
http://www.fireflyforest.com/flowers/741/chaenactis-stevioides-esteves-pincushion/

If you want to check out some of the other possibilities it might be, or that you might find growing wild, there are some pictures of some of the look alikes to be found below.

Pebble Pincushion (Chaenactis carphoclinia) - http://www.sagebud.com/pebble-pincushion-chaenactis-carphoclinia/

Bighead Dustymaiden (C. macrantha) - http://www.sagebud.com/bighead-dustymaiden-chaenactis-macrantha/