This is an erect annual which grows to about 50cm tall, bearing spherical clusters of small flowers on stems that fork into 2-3 branches at the top. Each flowerhead is made up of 20-40 tiny yellow florets that are surrounded by narrow bracts, the outer woolly and the inner bristle-tipped. The stems leaves are erect, wavy-edged and clasping the stem; they are also woolly. Flowering in July and August, this species grows on sandy grasslands, arable fields and dunes. It is a rare, native species, formerly known as Filago vulgaris, and it belongs to the Daisy or Asteraceae family.
I first saw this in Yoletown, County Wexford in 2019 when shown it by Paul Green, BSBI Vice-county Recorder for Counties Waterford and Wexford.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
