Flower of warm autumn

Photo: Arne Ader
 Translation: Liis
Scentless mayweed
Scentless mayweed     Kesalill        Tripleurospermum inodorum
 
Some botanists have given the scentless mayweed that  grows at seashores a separate species name – sea mayweed, Tripleurospermum maritimum. The most common habitats of the ordinary scentless mayweed are fallow fields as suggested by its Estonian name, kesalill, fallow field flower. The plant prefers a sunny habitat.
The pretty weed spreads by seeds. Height half a metre, sometimes more or less, and branching liberally. The main stem as well as side stems carry inflorescences, and the flowering lasts until snow comes. Ray florets at the edge of the inflorescence are female but the yellow disk florets are bisexual. In one plant or a clump an amazing number of seeds can form – 50 000 up to 1 000 000 or even more, thanks to the great number of flowers in an inflorescence. A seed is up to a millimetre long on average, spills out easily on ripening and is dark brown coloured.

Mayweed seeds germinate on the ground in light even without final ripening, in  a soil depth of up to five centimetres. The seeds remain capable of germination for at least five years; even after having passed the alimentary tract of animals one fourth of the seeds are still capable of germination. Mayweed seeds germinate already at a few degrees of warmth and seedlings can be found at the end of summer, in autumn and of course in spring.



 

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