Glebionis coronaria

Annual of the Asteraceae family, this species is native to the Mediterranean basin, where it is considered indigenous to the shores of the western Mediterranean, from Morocco to Greece, although it has widely naturalized far beyond its original range, to East Asia and America. It colonizes cultivated fields, wastelands, embankments, open garrigues, and path edges on poor, well-drained soils, from sea level to the collinean levels.

It forms erect and branched plants, reaching 20 to 80 centimeters in height, with bright green foliage, finely pinnatifid to bipinnatifid, slightly fleshy and with a characteristic aromatic smell when crushed. The capitula are solitary, large, with bright yellow to golden yellow ligules, sometimes bicolored yellow and white in some forms, surrounding a strong yellow central disc.

It is by its ability to cover considerable areas with its bright flowers that it imposes itself on the eye: those photographed here, somewhere on the hills of the Iberian Peninsula, show this spectacle of intense yellow that invades the spring slopes as far as the eye can see, animated by the presence of free-roaming horses.

In its natural habitat, its flowering extends from March to June depending on latitude and altitude.

In East Asia, notably in Japan and China, the young shoots and leaves are consumed as a vegetable, under the name shungiku or tong hao. It is sown directly in place, in ordinary drained soil, in full sun, without special care.