This is a plant which lives up to its common name – it is covered with spreading hairs, both glandular and non-glandular. A member of the Daisy family, this species bears flowers (6-10mm) which have 5 widely-separated white ray florets - each with 2-3 lobes - and a centre of golden disc florets. There are small scales, which are mostly unlobed, among these disc florets. The leaves are opposite, ovate and stalked and covered in soft hairs. Reaching about 80cm in height, this is an annual which flowers from May to October on dry, waste ground and in pavement cracks. It also grows in arable land in some countries, where it causes havoc with crops. The seeds or achenes are borne in a large pappus, the pappus scales tapering into bristle tips. This is a is a relative newcomer to our shores, only having been occasionally recorded since the latter decades of the last century. It is native to Mexico and is thought to be a species which has arrived in Ireland with garden plants.
I found this little species growing on a pavement in Dublin in 2014, when I also photographed it.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
