Daisy, Oxeye

Information on Oxeye Daisy

Common Name: Oxeye Daisy
Scientific Name: Leucanthemum vulgare
Irish Name: Nóinín mór
Family Group: Asteraceae
Distribution: View Map (Courtesy of the BSBI)
Flowering Period


Click for list of all flowering by month
Oxeye Daisy is not easily confused with other wild plants on this web site.


Also known as Dog daisy and Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum, this familiar flower brightens our grass verges, meadows and many motorway embankments from May to September.  The flowers (25-50mm ) are borne on strong, erect, ridged stems (to 80cm high) and have white spreading rays (like petals) and a prominent yellow centre of disc florets.  The dark green leaves are spoon-shaped, stalked and form a rosette, the stem leaves are alternate, lanceolate and sessile.  The name Daisy comes from the Old English 'dæges ēage'  or day's eye, as the flower opened up as the sun came up.  This is a native plant and belongs to the family Asteraceae.  

I first identified this plant in 1978 in Killiney, Co Dublin and photographed it in Ballymitty, Co Wexford 

If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre

A 'cure for sore eyes – pluck some (daisy) flowers, boil them in water then wash the eyes with that water every morning before breakfast'.

From the National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin.  NFC 782:352 From Fermanagh and Cavan.

Young girls used to pick daisies and pull off the petals until they were all gone saying 'He loves me, he loves me not'to find out whether her male friend was true.  

In youth from rock to rock I went,
From hill to hill in discontent
Of pleasure high and turbulent,
Most pleased when most uneasy;
But now my own delights I make,--
My thirst at every rill can slake,
And gladly Nature's love partake,
Of Thee, sweet Daisy!

William Wordsworth  1770-1850 

Daisy, Oxeye
Daisy, Oxeye
Daisy, Oxeye
Daisy, Oxeye