Buphthalmum salicifolium - Yellow Oxeye Daisy

Phylum: Magnoliophyta - Class: Equisetopsida - Order: Asterales - Family: Asteraceae

This stately daisy forms dense patches of colour along stony roadside verges and in woodland edges.

Description

The green leaves, sessile near the base and with short stalks further up, are lanceolate (very much like those of long-leaved willows) and alternate up the stems, each of which bears a single flower. The bold yellow flowers are typically 5 to 6 cm across with a centre of densely-packed yellow disc florets surrounded by yellow ray florets. There are between two and six shallow teeth at the tips of each of the ray florets.

Distribution

This sun-loving daisy is native to much of central and southern Europe includung Germany, Austria Switxerland, Italy and Slovenia. In Britain and Ireland Yellow Oxeye is an instroduced species.

Habitat

Yellow Oxeye Daisy grows in dry meadows, open woodlands and woodland clearings as well as on roadside banks and verges.

Above: a fritillary butterfy on a Yellow Oxeye Daisy flower

Flowering times

This member of the asteraceae family can be seen in bloom from May until September.

Etymology

The genus name Buphthalmum comes from the Greek 'Bu' meaning an oxe. and 'ptalmus' the Greek word for an eye. Hence the common name Yellow Oxeye (sometimes written Ox-eye). Willow trees are salix in Latin, so salicifolium means having leaves like those of willow trees, most of which have long lanceolate leaves.

The specimens shown on this page were photographed in Slovenia during early June.

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