Umbrella milkwort
Tolpis barbata
Family · Asteraceae · Harmless
The yellow daisy with a nearly black dark brown centre, ringed by long fine bracts sticking out like rays. There is nothing else like it in a dry field.
Fields and pasture · Pine woods · Roadsides and waste ground · Dunes and sand
Also known asbarbed tolpis
How to tell it
A yellow head with a very distinct dark brown or purple central disc, which is the mark. Beneath, a ring of extremely fine long outer bracts pointing outward, like a beard. A slender branched stem, with white latex when cut. Cut basal leaves in a rosette.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
No use
It is excellent for learning: it shows that what separates yellow daisies from one another is not the flower but the set of bracts beneath 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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