Cape weed
Arctotheca calendula
Family · Asteraceae · Harmless
The carpet of yellow daisies with a dark centre covering lawns, fallow land and coastal sands at the end of winter. It came from South Africa and has spread all along the Peninsular coast.
Fields and pasture · Town and roadside · Roadsides and waste ground · Dunes and sand
Also known asCape dandelion, plain treasureflower
How to tell it
A rosette of large leaves, deeply cut into lobes, green above and white-felted beneath. Solitary heads atop long leafless stalks, with yellow rays and a dark brown or purple central disc. It spreads by rooting runners.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
No use
It forms mats so dense that they stop everything else germinating, and it is a serious problem on dunes and coastal pastures.
The law says
A listed invasive alien species in Portugal. Do not plant or propagate it.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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