[331] Symphyotrichum novi-belgii, Michaelmas Daisy

[331] Symphyotrichum novi-belgii, New York Aster

Symphyotrichum novae-angliae, New England Aster

Introduction

Symphyotrichum novi-belgii and Symphyotrichum novae-angliae are the two most common species of the group known as Michaelmas Daisies, widely cultivated in the UK as ornamental garden plants and seen outside gardens as escaped naturalized plants.They have the formal names New York Aster and New England Aster.

The genus Symphyotricum and ten other genera used to be included in the genus Aster. Many of their species still use the scientific designation Aster especially in horticultural contexts. As garden plants they are generally just called Michaelmas Daisies (or Michaelmas-daisies.)

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Asterales

Family – Asteraceae

Subfamily – Asteroideae

Supertribe – Asterodae

Tribe – Astereae

Subtribe – Symphyoytrichinae

Genus – Symphyotrichum

Scientific Names – Symphyotrichum novi-belgii, Symphyotrichum novae-angliae

They may be known, especially in horticultural circumstances as Aster novi-belgii and Aster novae-angliae and they have many cultivars

Name

The word Aster, from the Latin for star, has been used for a very large genus from which Symphyotrichum has been split. It is used for the very large family Asteraceae.

Symphyo-trichum is Latinized from Ancient Greek roots, symphysis-trich, growing together and hair. (Named from part of the structure of some florets, not shared by most species in the genus. Once a scientific name is defined, it never gets changed just because it is wrong!)

The name Michaelmas Daisy comes from the idea that they bloom around 29 September, St. Michael’s Day. As I write this in early October, I can walk down a footpath which is lined with these plants in bloom for hundreds of yards. (Sorry, I am too old to say ‘hundreds of metres.’)

The species epithets novi-belgii and novae-angliae are Latinized forms of New Belgium and New England as places in the USA. They are, of course in genitive form. The Dutch colony New Netherland later became the State of New York (and the city of New York was originally New Amsterdam.)

Description

I start by noting that all species of Symphyotrichum are difficult to describe because parts of the plant structure, such as leaves, change through the year and between individual plants.

They all have inflorescences typical of Asters with many long ray florets from white to pink, blue or purple. Disk florets start from yellow to white and turn reddish or brown when mature.

The wild Symphyotrichum novi-belgii has almost white ray flowers while those of Symphyotrichum novae-angliae are light blue. But I will not attempt to differentiate the two species by flower colour because cultivated varieties have several different shades of flowers. (It is not helped by cameras that adjust white balance. In places I see large clumps of white Michaelmas Daisies next to blue Michaelmas daisies but the photographs of both species come out looking virtually identical.)

They have erect stems of from one to two metres height with many inflorescences near the top, often bunched together. They must spread easily because wherever I see one, I see them continue in a clump for some distance along the path. 

Habitat and use

Both species grow naturally over eastern Canada and north-eastern USA and tend to like wet areas.

In the UK they have been introduced as garden plants and have escaped to become naturalized in the wild. There are dozens of cultivars. Many of then are still called Aster.

See also

I think by now you will be familiar with a few other garden plants that have escaped and spread easily.

Also, see [049] Daisy and [204] Ox-eye Daisy.

[204] Leucanthemum vulgare, Ox-eye Daisy

[204] Leucanthemum vulgare, Ox-eye Daisy

Introduction

Leucanthemum vulgare, the Ox-eye (or Oxeye) Daisy, is a wildflower in the Aster family easily confused with the cultivated Shasta Daisy, Leucanthemum x superbum.

The word Daisy on its own usually refers to [049] Bellis perennis, the Common Daisy; and many other species from dozens of genera in the Aster family are also called Daisies.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Asterales

Family – Asteraceae (About 30 000 species)

Subfamily – Asteroideae (About 20 000 species)

Supertribe – Asterodae

Tribe – Anthemideae (About 2 000 species)

Genus – Leucanthemum

Scientific Name – Leucanthemum vulgare

It has many scientific synonyms.

Other species and hybrids are cultivated, particularly many cultivars of Leucanthemum x superbum.

Name

Leuc-anthemum, from Ancient Greek, means white-flower.

Description

I will start this post with an extended disclaimer. There are at least fifty species of Leucanthemum, they all look very similar, many of them are cultivated, and there are many varieties and cultivars. So, I am not going to guarantee the species of any of my pictures.

I have to mention Leucanthemum x superbum, the Shasta Daisy, named after Mount Shasta in California because its petals were the colour of snow. (Yes, I know, it’s a ridiculous name, but so are many common names and almost all scientific names.) Back in 1890, Luther Burbank, an American horticulturalist crossed Leucanthemum vulgare with Leucanthemum maximum; this hybrid was crossed with Leucanthemum lacustre; and the result was crossed with Nipponanthemum nipponicum. The result was the Shasta Daisy, from which many popular cultivars have since been produced. It can escape and naturalize, where it looks very similar to the Ox-eye Daisy or other imported and naturalised species of Leucanthemum.

The best way to describe the Ox-eye Daisy is as a large daisy with a particularly large flower. It can grow to over half a metre in height and it produces up to three large daisy-like flowers. (Yes, of course, you know about Asters. They are not actually flowers, they are inflorescences with lots of florets.)

Shasta Daisies can escape and naturalize and they look just like Ox-eye Daisies but have even larger flower heads.

Habitat and use

Leucanthemum vulgare is native to Europe and part of Western Asia. It is a perennial wildflower (or weed) of grassland and scrub areas, especially open meadows and fields. It has widely naturalised in many parts of the world and can become invasive.

It can be found as a weed in lawns, where it won’t grow to its full size.

The Shasta Daisy is widely cultivated in many cultivars.

Other Notes

Daisies are fairly common. I assume that the small flower varieties are common daisies, the larger ones are Ox Eye Daisies and the largest are Shasta Daisies that have escaped and naturalized – but I could be wrong.

See also

There are many Aster species to be found in the UK, a few of which will have blog posts. The other one that most resembles daisies is [331] Michaelmas Daisy.

[049] Bellis perennis, Daisy

[049] Bellis perennis, Daisy

Introduction

Bellis perennis, the Daisy, is a widespread and very common small plant, best known as a familiar weed in cultivated lawns.

There are of course many plants called daisies so we can call the species the Common Daisy, Lawn Daisy or English Daisy

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Asterales

Family – Asteraceae

Genus – Bellis

Scientific Name – Bellis perennis

Name

‘Daisy’ is derived from “day’s eye,” as the flower head close at night and reopens in the morning. Chaucer called it ‘Eye of the day.’

‘Bellis perennis’ is Latin for ‘pretty everlasting’

Description

The plant itself is insignificant and it is always the flower that is noticed.

Its small flowers are typical of Asteraceae, with a yellow centre and white ray florets. It can flower almost through the year.

(The last picture also shows a small sawfly of some type.)

Habitat and use

The Daisy is widespread in Europe and naturalised in Australia and the Americas.

It is considered a weed in lawns because it is not affected by regular mowing to keep the grass short. But in some places the flower is allowed to give the lawn a more rustic appearance.

Other Notes

I was going to say that the common daisy is not a cultivated plant but many of its larger relatives in the daisy family, Asteraceae, are cultivated. But Wikipedia says that it actually has cultivated varieties – these may be used in America.

See also

There are many much larger plants bearing daisy-like flowers. In particular, look out for [204] Ox-eye Daisy, which will also look at the Shasta Daisy.