A golden-rayed annual of light, acid arable soils, so troublesome to farmers of oats and potatoes that Henry II reportedly ordered its eradication
Corn marigold - Glebionis segetum (BSBI).
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Corn marigold
Archaeophyte · annual, flowers June to October · arable fields, sown margins, waste ground
Glebionis segetum — Asteraceae
Corn marigold is the golden daisy of the cornfield, an ancient introduction that was such a pest of oats and potatoes that Henry II is said to have ordered its eradication. Improved seed cleaning, liming, herbicides and autumn sowing have made it Vulnerable on the Great Britain Red List, though it is now spread by wildflower seed mixes. It stands for a whole group of arable plants, including the cornflower, that are Britain's fastest-declining flora.
How to spot them
- ▸Solitary, golden-yellow, daisy-like heads 3-5 cm across on a hairless, blue-green plant
- ▸Grey-green, toothed to lobed leaves, the upper ones clasping the stem
- ▸Annual up to about 60 cm on light, sandy or acid soils
- ▸Look-alikes: ox-eye daisy has white rays; yellow ragworts and hawkweeds carry clusters of smaller heads; the rare corn chamomile has white rays
How to know it
Classed as an archaeophyte, with a continuous archaeological record in Britain from the Iron Age onwards
Corn marigold.
Its decline is blamed on improved seed cleaning, liming, herbicides and the switch to autumn-sown crops; it is Vulnerable on the GB Red List
Corn marigold - BSBI.
Plantlife says that more than 120 species of threatened, rare and scarce wildflowers grow in arable habitats, together the UK's fastest-declining suite of plants, including this one, corncockle and cornflower
Corn marigold - Plantlife.
Its seeds can lie dormant for years in the soil and germinate en masse when ground is disturbed, so it often reappears on sown seed-mix margins
Corn marigold - BSBI.
Formerly placed in the same genus as garden chrysanthemums, it is a cornfield relative of the florists' flower
Corn marigold - formerly Chrysanthemum segetum.
Quick-fire facts
- •Formerly Chrysanthemum segetum; family Asteraceae
- •BSBI: an archaeophyte; probably native only in the eastern Mediterranean; Vulnerable on the GB Red List
- •Once such a pest that Henry II reportedly ordered its eradication
- •Decline caused by seed cleaning, liming, herbicides and autumn-sown crops (BSBI)
- •Plantlife: more than 120 threatened, rare and scarce wildflowers grow in arable habitats, the fastest-declining plants in the UK
- •Cornflower and corncockle are part of the same story: once familiar in cornfields, now mainly seen from seed mixes or reserves
- •Populations of arable plants began to recover locally from the late 1980s on unsprayed set-aside, and margin schemes (Plantlife)
- •Seeds survive for a long time in the soil, giving occasional mass emergence when land is disturbed
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Sources
- BSBI — Glebionis segetum (L.) Fourr. (Corn Marigold)
- Plantlife — Cornflower