Yellow Asteraceae

The Asteraceae - Yellow-flowered Species

Daisy Family - Asteraceae

Shrubby Sow-thistle Launaea arborescens

Native in the Canary Islands, North-west Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. One of the commonest plants on Fuerteventura, occurring in great quantity on stony plains, roadsides and in sandy places.


Habit	Habit	Flowerhead	Flowerhead

Phyllaries	Leaves	Zigzag stems	Zigzag stems

Slender Sow-thistle Sonchus tenerrimus

Native in the Canary Islands and eastward through the Mediterranean Region to the Middle East and India. Fairly common on Fuerteventura in disturbed and cultivated ground. A very variable plant, with phyllaries that may be bristly, or have white, downy bases.


Habit	Habit	Flowerhead	Phyllaries

Phyllaries	Phyllaries	Leaf	Leaf

Smooth Sow-thistle Sonchus oleraceus

A very common annual species, most often seen as a weed of arable land, gardens and other disturbed areas. Flowers mostly June to August, but a few plants may occasionally be found flowering in other months. Leaves deeply lobed, hairless and usually dull, the margins finely toothed only towards the base. Note the shape of the base of the leaf, which ends in two pointed lobes that clasp the stem (compare with Smooth Sow-thistle). Stems to 120cm in height, relatively week, with a large hollow at the centre. Flowerheads are carried in loose bundles on long stalks. Flowers may be bright yellow like other sow-thistles, or are often a paler, dull creamy colour. Copious milky sap oozes out of damaged stems.


Habit	Habit	Flowerhead	Flowerhead

Phyllaries	Leaf	Leaf base

Painted Reichardia Reichardia tingitana

Native in the Canary Islands, eastward to India and southward through East Africa to Tanzania. Common on Fuerteventura, often along track sides in dry, stony places.


Habit	Habit	Flowerhead	Flowerhead

Phyllaries	Phyllaries	Leaf

Scaly Hawkbit Hedypnois rhagadioloides ssp. rhagadioloides

Possibly native, or perhaps introduced from the Mediterranean Region. A low species of bare and disturbed ground.


Habit	Flowerhead	Flowerhead	Flowerhead

Phyllaries	Phyllaries	Leaf	Leaves

Canary Islands Hawk's-beard Crepis canariensis

Native and endemic to the Canary Islands (Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria).


Habit	Habit	Phyllaries	Stem leaf

Prickly Goldenfleece Urospermum picroides

Native throughout the Mediterranean Basin and Middle East. A weedy coloniser of bare and disturbed ground.


Habit	Habit	Flowerhead	Phyllaries

Phyllaries	Leaf	Leaf	Stem

Pinnatifid Andryala Andryala pinnatifida

Native to the Canary Islands and North-west Africa.


Habit	Flowerheads	Phyllaries

Leaves	Leaves

Three-winged Marigold Calendula tripterocarpa

Native in the Canary Islands, eastward through North Africa to the Middle East. Common on Fuerteventura, especially along roadsides and in cultivated barrancos. Very similar to Field Marigold, but outer achenes are not beaked, instead being broadly three-winged, sometimes with toothed or spiky margins.


Habit	Flowerhead	Flowerhead	Phyllaries

Seedhead	Seedhead

Field Marigold Calendula arvensis

Native throughout most of the Western Palearctic. Common on Fuerteventura, especially along roadsides and in cultivated barrancos. Very similar to Three-winged Marigold, but outer achenes draw out into a pointed beak.


Habit	Habit	Flowerhead	Phyllaries

Basal leaf	Leaf detail	Seedhead	Seedhead

Crown Daisy Glebionis coronaria

Native throughout the Mediterranean Basin and Middle East. Common as a weedy plant of roadsides and rough ground.


Habit	Habit	Habit	Flowerhead

Phyllaries	Lower leaf	Lower leaf	Upper leaf

Woody Fleabane Dittrichia viscosa

Native throughout the Mediterranean Basin, including the Canary Islands. A plant of roadsides and degraded land.


Habit	Habit	Flower spike	Flowers

Phyllaries	Leaf	Stem

Burchard's Fleabane Pulicaria burchardii

Native to North-west Africa and to Fuerteventura. Occurs in sandy, sub-desert habitat.


Habit	Habit	Flowerhead	Phyllaries

Leaf

Fuerteventura Sea-daisy Asteriscus sericeus

Native and endemic to Fuerteventura, but frequently also planted as an amenity plant on the other islands, as well as on Fuerteventura. A plant of stony hillsides, but also planted in towns as an ornamental for its spectacularly silky leaves.


Habit	Habit	Flowerhead	Phyllaries

Leaves	Leaf

Button Pallenis Pallenis hierochuntica

Native to Fuerteventura and eastward through North Africa and the Middle East. A small and easily-overlooked species of dry habitats.


Habit	Habit	Flowerhead	Flowerhead

Leaves	Seedhead

Coastal Groundsel Senecio leucanthemifolius var. falcifolius

The species is native to coastal areas of the Canary Islands and Mediterranean Region, with the variety falcifolius being endemic to Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.