This was be my third post on this small creeping daisy, first one was on my discovery of its existence in Singapore in January 2016 while the next one was on its potential identity Bellis azorica in March of the same year, which was incorrect. By chance, I had managed to confirm the identity of this small daisy recently. It was not Bellis azorica which I had originally named but instead, it should be Erigeron bellioides.

It happened last week while browsing through a wildflower pictorial guide book from Taiwan (都會野花野草圖鑑) published in 2011 (page 79). The exact plant picture appeared in the guide book with the named Erigeron bellioides (Chinese name: 类雏菊飞蓬).

With its correct identity in place, I was then able to find more information on this low-lying plant. This wild daisy was first reported in the USA in 2009 [1] and its local common name was Bellorita. The Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) website only indicated its presence in limited locations and none of them was in the Southeast Asia region. In Taiwan, the first report on its presence was published in 2009 [2] though it was established locally much earlier. In Singapore, it was more widespread than I originally thought when I first saw it a year back. So far, I had seen it in Yishun and Mandai areas. However, its introduction might be quite recent since I had yet to find any local report on it.

It took me slightly more than a year to eventually identify this little unknown daisy. Like the Monkey's Potato (Plectranthus monostachyus) which took some years post discovery here before someone published a report, I hope a publication will be out as well one day for this daisy. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this daily is likely going to gain a very strong foothold among the weedy plants here.

Reference:

[1] Mears RL. Erigeron bellioides (Asteraceae), new to Florida and the continental United States. J Bot Res Inst Texas 2009;3(2):869-871. | Abstract |

[2] Jung MJ, Hsu TC, Chung SW, Peng CI. Three newly naturalized Asteraceae plants in Taiwan. Taiwania 2009;54(1):76-81. | Read Article |