Flora of New Zealand Series

Shasta daisy

Scarcely scented, perennial herb. Stems erect, up to c. 1 m tall, glabrous or with a few scattered hairs, striate, simple or branched at base or above. Basal and lower cauline lvs petiolate, narrow-elliptic, acute to obtuse at apex, cuneate, evenly 1-serrate, glabrous, up to c. 30 × 4 cm; cauline lvs similar to basal but above becoming smaller, apetiolate, amplexicaul, the uppermost lanceolate to linear and sometimes almost entire. Involucral bracts 6-12 mm long, glabrous; margins and apex brown, membranous; inner bracts at least with extended apical flap. Capitula solitary, (50)-70-120 mm diam.; ray florets 20-40; ligules white; disc florets numerous, yellow. Achenes 2.5-4 mm long, dark brown with paler ribs; achenes of disc florets ± terete or somewhat flattened, with 10 ± equal ribs, and corona 0; achenes of ray florets similar to those of disc florets but with lateral ribs sometimes somewhat thicker, and an irregular corona up to c. 1 mm long.

N.; S.: occasional throughout; St.: Halfmoon Bay area to Maori Beach.

Pyrenees 1914

Waste places, especially roadsides, pasture, cemeteries, often forming large colonies.

FL Nov-May.

L. maximum is part of the L. vulgare complex, but in N.Z. is easily distinguished from the oxeye daisy by its larger capitula and narrow-elliptic, regularly serrate lvs. The sp. is an escape from cultivation and is usually known as Chrysanthemum maximum. Wild plants vary somewhat in capitulum diam. and all collections are single; a wide range of cvs, including double forms, is cultivated. Hortus Third (1976) suggests that most of the material cultivated as C. maximum is probably C. × superbum J. Ingram, which is presumed to be a hybrid between C. lacustre Brot. and C. maximum. Other authorities treat all cultivated material as selections of C. maximum.