Yam Daisy

The bright-yellow daisy heads of the Yam Daisy are held on slender stalks, curved like a ‘swan neck’ when budding, straightening when in full bloom.  The leaves from a delicate rosette at the base of the flower stalks. Seeds are held in a globe of papery stars. Like many local perennial herbs, Yam Daisies die back each year to tuberous roots after flowering, with leaves reappearing in early winter and flowering from August to December.

Yam Daisy grow well in full sun to semishade. They are moderately tolerant of frost (to -5°C), drought and a range of soil types, including heavy clays. They don’t cope well with waterlogging. Yam Daisy can survive in skeletal, compacted soils but thrive best in rich, free-draining soils with supplementary water during dry times. While they show robust growth in their its first year in the garden, they tend to disappear in subsequent years. While the cause of disappearance is a mystery, it is likely due to herbivory, perhaps by slugs on the leaves or even nematodes on the roots. When protected in a pot, Yam Daisy flowers reappear year-after-year.

Yam Daisy or Murnong are an important connection to the history of Dja Dja Wurrung in our region, as tubers were a significant part of their traditional diet. Once an abundant plant through the understory of open forests, woodlands and grasslands of south eastern Australia, the Yam Daisy was decimated by goldmining, sheep trampling and grazing. It is now generally found as scattered individuals in Box-Ironbark forests and rare grassy woodland remnants in our region. The Yam Daisy is important for a wide range of pollinating insects, including native bees, hoverflies, native wasps, butterflies and beetles. On cold mornings, small insects can be seen ‘sun-baking ‘on the yellow flower disks, warming up before they can set off foraging. Native bees also shelter amongst the petals on a windy day.