Photo: Michael, Antoni and Nihat Hinczewski, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist · Beachwood, OH 44122, USA, 2025-07-20

Flowers and groundcovers · Introduced from Europe and temperate Asia

Oxeye daisy

Leucanthemum vulgare Asteraceae

Oxeye daisy is a familiar meadow perennial with white ray petals around a yellow centre, each flower 2.5 to 5 cm across. The flowering stems rise 30 to 90 cm from a rosette of dark green, toothed basal leaves. It spreads by seed and short rhizomes into loose colonies. Flowers appear from late spring through summer and attract many small pollinators.

Latin

Leucanthemum vulgare

Lam. · family Asteraceae · also Chrysanthemum leucanthemum L.

English

Oxeye daisy

field daisy, dog daisy, moon daisy

Source: VASCAN: Leucanthemum vulgare · Wikipedia: Leucanthemum vulgare

French

Marguerite blanche

leucanthème commun, grande marguerite

Source: VASCAN: Leucanthemum vulgare

Kanien'kéha (Mohawk)

Ennekerà:ke Watón:nis

NYS 4-H gives this for 'Oxeye Daisy' (no Latin name stated). The Canadian Geographic card gives Konwákeri for 'Daisy' but identifies it as Bellis perennis, a different plant, so it is not used here.

Source: NYS 4-H Wild Edibles - Mohawk names (pronunciations credited to Doris King) · Canadian Geographic Education, Biinaagami Activity 7 plant species cards

Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe)

Name not yet recorded

No Anishinaabemowin name was found for this introduced plant in the sources checked.

Source: Ojibwe People's Dictionary

Through the year

Oxeye daisy in every season.

Story

The history of oxeye daisy.

Oxeye daisy grows in meadows, pastures, roadsides, lawns, forest openings and railway embankments, and is a plant of open, sunny ground. It spreads by seeds, with a mature plant producing thousands, and by rhizomes. The seeds can stay viable in soil for up to forty years, which makes it persistent once established.

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck formally described the species in 1778. The Latin name combines Greek words for white flower with vulgare, meaning common. It is the national flower of Denmark and Latvia, and the unopened flower buds have been marinated like capers.

Sources: Wikipedia: Leucanthemum vulgare · Canadian Food Inspection Agency: Leucanthemum vulgare

Where it comes from

How it got to Canada.

Native rangeEurope and temperate western Asia

Oxeye daisy reached North America in the late 1700s as an ornamental and as a contaminant of seed, and by 1800 it was well established in many areas. It now occurs in all Canadian provinces and territories, including Quebec. Canada's Weed Seeds Order (2016) regulates it as a Secondary Noxious Class 3 and Noxious Class 5 weed, and it is invasive in more than forty countries. In a garden it is best kept to a defined bed and deadheaded to limit seeding.

Sources: Canadian Food Inspection Agency: Leucanthemum vulgare · Wikipedia: Leucanthemum vulgare

Characteristics

The plant at a glance.

Height	30 to 90 cm
Spread	30 to 60 cm, widening by rhizomes
Habit	Upright perennial from a basal rosette
Bloom time	May to August
Flowers	White rays around a yellow disc, 2.5 to 5 cm across
Foliage	Dark green, toothed, spoon-shaped basal leaves; narrower stem leaves
Fruit	Small ribbed achenes, up to about 200 per flower
Hardiness	Zone 3
Light	Full sun
Moisture	Average to dry; adapts to clay, loam or sand with good drainage
Spread behaviour	Self-sows heavily and spreads by short rhizomes
Native range	Europe and temperate western Asia
Quebec status	Introduced, naturalized

In the Flight Path Garden

Where it grows here.

ZonesMeadow and Alternative Lawn Bed · St. Lawrence Lowlands Eco Mix Lawn

How many81

Planted2023 and 2024

In the Meadow and Alternative Lawn bed and the Eco Mix Lawn oxeye daisy supplies early to midsummer flowers for pollinators and holds a meadow look at the lawn edge. It is kept in check by mowing and deadheading because it seeds heavily.

Wildlife

Who uses it.

Flowers attract bees, butterflies, moths, flies and beetles, and rank highly for pollen in meadow flower studies.
Deer and rabbits generally leave it alone.
It is toxic to cats and dogs if eaten, and the foliage can cause skin irritation.

Sources: NC State Extension Plant Toolbox: Leucanthemum vulgare · Wikipedia: Leucanthemum vulgare

Care

What to do, season by season.

Spring

Pull unwanted rosettes and edge the patch before stems elongate.

Summer

Deadhead after the main bloom to limit seeding, and cut stems back by half to get a second flush of leaves.

Fall

Divide dense clumps and remove seedlings outside the bed.

Winter

No care is needed, because the rosettes stay green under snow.

Relations

Knowledge and use.

Nothing recorded yet from a source we can cite.

Sources

Oxeye daisy

Oxeye daisy in every season.

The history of oxeye daisy.

How it got to Canada.

The plant at a glance.

Where it grows here.

Who uses it.

What to do, season by season.

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

Knowledge and use.

Where this page comes from.