Oxeye daisy: Attractive and highly invasive

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Many plants that are now on our Colorado Noxious Weed List are plants introduced for their ornamental features. Oxeye daisy (leucanthemum vulgare lam.) is a perennial forb introduced to North America from Europe. It is currently found throughout the United States and north into Canada. Oxeye daisy was first reported in the northwestern United States in the late 1800s and by 1937 had spread to more than half the counties in the region.

It was first reported in the San Juan Mountains in about 1995 along Highway 550 after it was seeded along the rights-of-way as part of a wildflower mix. It is now one of the most prevalent roadside weeds in the northwest and is listed as a noxious weed in Colorado, Montana, Ohio, Washington and Wyoming. The following article was written by Celestine Duncan and was published in the TechLine Invasive Plant News Spring, 2016 edition.

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