Wild
flowers of wheatfields
Corn Marigold Chrysanthemum segetum
 An upright annual introduced to the U.K. in Neolithic times. Thrives in
disturbed ground.
Flowers: Solitary, bright yellow flowers
are borne on the end of the stems. They resemble
large yellow daisies and are 3 - 6cm
across. Flowers between May and September.
Leaves: quite fleshy and coarsely toothed or lobed.
Height: 50 - 60cm.
Distinguishing feature: hairless stems.
Corncockle Agrostemma githago
 A rare magenta annual once
abundant in
arable fields. ‘Cockle’ means weed.
Flowers: large solitary purplish flowers with
long pointed calyx. Flowers are 3 - 5cm across. Flowers between May and
August
and produces attractive seed heads.
Leaves: up to 12cm long with greyish hairs.
Height: 100cm.
Distinguishing features: Upright habit, softly hairy.
Cornflower Centaurea cyanus
 A British native annual that thrives in disturbed ground and provides food
for butterflies.
Flowers: vivid blue, delicate. Each flower
is solitary on the stem, with tubular blue florets
around the outer edge of flower and reddish purple
florets in the centre. 1.5 - 3cm across. Flowers
from June to August.
Leaves: have narrow lobes.
Height: 30 - 90cm.
 A British native annual.
Flowers: papery, scarlet, 7 - 10cm across with rounded,
overlapping petals that sometimes have black centres.
Flowers between May and September.
Leaves: coarsely toothed with fine pointed segments.
Height: 60 - 80cm.
Distinguishing feature: The attractive seed head is round and smooth,
which distinguishes it from other native poppies.
Bromus interruptus
Interrupted brome (Bromus interruptus) is a grass that grew in arable
fields. It was first described in 1849 and by the 1920s the
grass had been recorded from sites scattered throughout southern
England. However, it was last seen in Cambridge in 1972 and
is now classed as extinct in the wild.
Kew is leading an English
Nature Species Recovery Programme for Bromus interruptus, to
devise a long term strategy for its future.
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