The garden was a source of endless delight for a small child. But there was no more significant source of joy for me than my parent’s daisy patches. Their white petals and bright yellow centers practically begged me to touch them. Their firm, ridged stems, and leathery leaves were enchanting to me. I demonstrated my love for these flowers through an endless barrage of destruction.
I tore the flowerheads off their stalks. I shredded leaves off the stem and rolled them between my palms. I ripped the plants out by their roots and split them open to peer inside. Crumpled bouquets and wilted falling-apart daisy chains emerged from my grubby fingers. I consulted the flowers for romantic advice, chanting, “he loves me…he loves me not…” as dropped petals followed my footsteps.
Ironically, my passion for plants and my equal passion for destroying the same plants have been a great asset to my habitat restoration career. Often, I must break apart a plant to correctly identify the species. Pull apart the flowers to showcase the identifying features to a co-worker or new habitat restoration technician. Dissecting plants (well, perhaps destroying would be a more accurate description) helps me hone in on crucial identifying features. I cannot help but feel a fondness and warmth as I do so. It reminds me of my childhood horticultural pursuits destroying flowers.
Then I discovered that one of my favorite childhood flowers was a target for removal in numerous habitat restoration sites. I was shocked. What harm could come from the presence of a beautiful daisy such as oxeye daisy in a natural landscape? As it turns out, the appearance of oxeye daisy can be more disastrous than one would think. As it would turn out, the innocent and innocuous-looking white daisies of my childhood were wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Oxeye daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare) are a member of the Asteraceae family, also known as the sunflower family. Thousands of beloved garden ornamentals belong to this family, including marigolds, sunflowers, and zinnias, but many agriculturally important plants belong to this family as well. All Asteraceae family members possess a composite flower that appears to be a seem to be a single flower, a flat disk surrounded by petals. That “singular flower” contains thousands of individual florets that form a composite or disk flower. Oxeye daisies have small linear leaves with serrated edges arranged alternately along the stem. Originally from Europe, these flowers thrive within meadows, pasturelands, and old fields.
A field of oxeye daisy may seem like something out of a Jane Austen novel to the untrained eye. However, in an ecologist’s eyes, an area of oxeye daisy is a sign of an unhealthy ecosystem. These non-native flowers can colonize a natural landscape much more rapidly than many other noxious weeds. According to the Colorado Department of Agriculture, each seed head can hold up to 200 seeds per flower head.
Their wind-distributed seeds can land miles away from the original parent plant, introducing a new threat to a potentially fragile ecosystem More critically, the Colorado Department of Agriculture reports that oxeye daisies can spread vegetatively through their roots and can even sprout from broken root fragments. Thus, enabling them to persist if any sources are left behind during manual removal. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources advocates that control efforts should utilize herbicide control during the basal rosette stage for best results.
Sadly, despite the knowledge that these plants pose an ecological threat to the environment, Oxeye daisies are still sold in many nurseries. As with many ornamental- turned-invasive- plants, their attractive appearance belies an inherent ability to colonize and overtake an environment.
We should all exercise caution when purchasing ornamental plants for our backyards, but especially concerning the oxeye daisy. This wolf in sheep’s clothing represents a biological threat to the health and safety of our ecosystems. Should you ever come across an oxeye daisy, stop and pick it. You will be helping the environment in more ways than you could know.
