Succulent tolpis
Tolpis succulenta
Family · Asteraceae · Harmless
The yellow daisy with thick fleshy leaves growing clamped to sea cliffs in Madeira and the Azores, where the salt spray hits directly.
Where it grows
Dunes and sand · Walls and rocks · Scrubland
Also known asfleshy tolpis
In flower
How to tell it
A subshrub with a woody base and elongated, visibly fleshy, slightly toothed leaves in rosettes. Yellow heads two to three centimetres, solitary on long stalks. White latex. It grows almost always within a few metres of the sea. Range: Madeira and the Azores.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
No use. The fleshy leaves are an adaptation to salt and drought: they store fresh water in a place where rain runs off in seconds and the wind carries salt all day.