Acmella oleracea is a perennial flowering herb in the aster family (Asteraceae) native to South America, grown across the tropics for both its ornamental appeal and its culinary and medicinal properties. The small, golden-yellow cone flowers tipped with red are ornamental in themselves — neat, prolific, and attractive to bees — but their most remarkable quality is the electric, numbing sensation they produce on the tongue when chewed. This anaesthetic effect, caused by the compound spilanthol, has made them a traditional toothache remedy and a modern curiosity in culinary circles.

Growing 1 to 1.5 feet in zones 9 to 11 as a perennial, and widely grown as a warm-season annual elsewhere, it thrives in humidity and full sun with regular moisture. Bees visit the flowers readily. For gardeners who like their plants to offer something beyond appearance, Electric Daisy is a genuinely extraordinary garden subject.