Common name: English Daisy
Bellis perennis L. APNI* Description: Herbaceous perennial with short creeping stolons, with small rounded or spoon-shaped rosettes of leaves that grow flat to the ground.
Leaves 10–35 (60) mm long, 5–25 mm wide, obovate-spathulate, tapered to a petiolate base (often purplish) about as long as lamina, margin shallowly crenate or serrate, appressed-pubescent to glabrescent.
Heads solitary (but often quite numerous), 2–3 cm diam.; peduncles erect, 3–20 cm long, ebracteate, green,variably hairy and somewhat thickened below head. Involucral bracts 3–6 mm long, oblong, usually obtuse. Ray florets white;ligule 4–10 mm long, often tipped red or purplish-red beneath. Disc florets numerous, yellow.
Achenes 1–1.6 mm long, obovate, shortly appressed-hairy; pappus absent.
Flowering: summer.
Distribution and occurrence: CT. There are also McBarron collections, made in the 1960's, from Campbelltown (CC) but it is not certain that these are naturalised records. Vic, Tas. (and NZ). Native of southern, western and central Europe, extending north to Denmark and eastwards to White Russia and Kyrm. Grows in cooler districts, usually as a roadside or pasture weed and is a common component of well-watered lawns.
NSW subdivisions: *CT, *CC
Difficult to eradicate by mowing. Wherever it appears it is often considered an invasive weed. Common names: common daisy, common lawn daisy, daisy, English daisy, European daisy.
Text by E.A. Brown
Taxon concept: Flora of Vic 4 (1999), Flora Europaea 4 (1976).
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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