Lakeside Daisy

The bright Lakeside daisy is one of Ohio's most spectacular wildflowers. This long-lived perennial grows where few others can, on nearly barren limestone bedrock in full sunlight. In early to mid-May, the bright yellow flowers of the Lakeside daisy adorn the otherwise bleak, sun-baked landscape of the Marblehead Quarry. Each basal rosette of leaves usually produces a single 6-11" tall, leafless, erect stalk topped with a solitary flower.

All individuals within a given population tend to bloom about the same time, producing the spectacular effect of a golden blanket across the rocky landscape. All the flower heads track the sun across the sky in unison. After about a week, the double notched petals fade before falling.

The Lakeside daisy (Hymenoxys herbacea) is the rarest of the plants currently listed as endangered in Ohio.
The only natural population of Lakeside daisy in the United States grows on the Marblehead Peninsula in Ottawa County. In 1988 the Lakeside daisy was listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a federally threatened species. The species has been listed as endangered in Ohio since 1980.Lakeside Daisy State Nature Preserve encompasses 19 acres of old limestone quarried land on the Marblehead Peninsula of Lake Erie in Ohio, USA.

This preserve was established to protect the only natural United States population of the Lakeside daisy, a federally threatened plant species which only occurs naturally at a handful of sites. Also a state endangered species, this is one of Ohio's most spectacular wildflowers. This long-lived perennial grows where few others can, on nearly barren limestone bedrock in full sunlight.
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