Glebionis segetum - Corn Marigold

Corn Marigold is an annual herb, 20-60 cm tall, hairless or nearly so; stems erect, fleshy. It has been closely associated with man's farming activities. It has grown in cornfields from the Iron Age to the present day. Now a days it is rare in corn fields, and is vulnerable. But it is also grown as an ornamental plant. Flower-heads are solitary or few at tips of branches, 3-5 cm across; flower-cluster-stalk about 5 cm. Flower-heads have yellow disc and obovate ray florets. Involucres cup-shaped, 1-2 cm in diameter; phyllaries in 4 rows, inner ones scarious, tip enlarged. Basal and lower stem leaves stalkless; leaf blade elliptic, obovate-lanceshaped, or ovate-elliptic, margin irregularly largely toothed, rarely pinnately lobed. Upper stem leaves are gradually smaller. Corn Marigold is native only to the eastern Mediterranean region but now naturalized in western and northern Europe as well as China and parts of North America.