Here are a pair of plants that are considered good ground cover for wasteland, but should be pulled out of pastures when found there. The first is Hoary Alyssum, which came to the U.S. from Europe.
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| Hoary Alyssum |
Like all members of the mustard family, Hoary Alyssum has 4 petals, with a cluster of white flowers atop each stalk. It's stalk is covered with grey/white hairs, hence its "hoary" name. Hoary Alyssum has been found to be toxic to horses. It doesn't seem to bother other livestock although the woody stem isn't very nutritious and it crowds out more useful plants. But since it blooms all summer it's considered a good ground cover for abandoned land. Indeed, the plant in this picture was growing quite happily between a few cracks in cement. Sadly I could find no good use for Hoary Alyssum, other than it's pretty to look at.
The next flower is the Ox Eye Daisy.
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| Ox-eye Daisy |
According to
Wildflowers-and-Weeds.com, the Ox-eye Daisy is both loved and hated. Loved because it is beautiful and hardy; hated because it spreads so quickly in pastures and cows and pigs won't eat it. In Scotland the flowers were called "gools" and the farmer with the most gools in his/her wheat field had to pay an extra tax. .
However, these days you can make good money from Ox-eye Daisies, because they are becoming more popular in upscale restaurants. The leaves are fairly bitter but have been eaten as salad greens in Italy for years...now the tradition seems to be coming here. There's a special technique for harvesting them -- here's
a website from Canada with more information.
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