Glebionis segetum

Glebionis segetum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Genus:	Glebionis
Species:	G. segetum
Binomial name
Glebionis segetum (L.) Fourr.

Glebionis segetum (syn. Chrysanthemum segetum) is a species of the genus Glebionis, probably native only to the eastern Mediterranean region. Common names include Corn Marigold and Corn Daisy.

It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 80 cm tall, with spirally arranged, deeply lobed leaves 5–20 cm long. The flowers are bright yellow, produced in capitulae (flowerheads) 3.5-5.5 cm diameter, with a ring of ray florets and a centre of disc florets.

It is widely naturalised outside of its native range, colonising western and central Europe with early human agriculture; it can be an invasive weed in some areas.

It was formerly treated in the genus Chrysanthemum, but under a recent decision of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, that genus has been redefined with a different circumscription to include the economically important florist's chrysanthemum.

In Gaelic the plant was known as Brenanbroi which translates as that which rotteth corn.^[1]

The Corn Marigold must have been a serious weed during the 13th century in Scotland as a law of Alexander II states that if a farmer allows so much as a single plant to produce seed in amongst his crops then he will be fined a sheep.^[2]

A Marigold was the emblem of Mary Queen of Scots.

In Crete, Greece, the leaves and the tender shoots of a variety called neromantilida (νερομαντηλίδα) are eaten raw in salads or browned in hot olive oil by the locals.^[3]

References

1. ^ Dalrymple, Sir David (1776). Annals of Scotland. Pub. J. Murray. London. P. 339.
2. ^ Dalrymple, Sir David (1776). Annals of Scotland. Pub. J. Murray. London. P. 338 -339.
3. ^ Kleonikos G. Stavridakis , Κλεόνικος Γ. Σταυριδάκης (2006). Wild edible plants of Crete - Η Άγρια βρώσιμη χλωρίδα της Κρήτης. Rethymnon Crete. ISBN 960-631-179-1. 

• Germplasm Resources Information Network: Glebionis segetum
• Flora Europaea: Glebionis segetum (as Chrysanthemum segetum)