Ox-eye Daisy
Leucanthemum vulgare
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The moon daisy — a big white daisy that glows on a verge at dusk.
An upright perennial with dark green, spoon-shaped, coarsely toothed lower leaves and large solitary daisy flowers, each with a golden disc and a ring of white ray florets, up to five centimetres across. Ox-eye daisies are common on road verges, railway banks, meadows and rough grassland around Dumfries, often in impressive numbers.
Behaviour
Also called moon daisy or dog daisy, the flowers stay visible late into the evening, which is where the moon name comes from. Each 'flower' is a composite head of many tiny florets. It thrives on poor, unimproved soil and disappears from heavily fertilised grassland, so a verge full of ox-eye daisies is usually one that has escaped enrichment.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Daisies (Asteraceae)
- Height
- 30–70 cm
- Status
- Native; common on unimproved grassland and verges
Photo by and (c)2008 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons