This delightful daisy smiles at you from among the grasses and forbs putting on their spring show. Snow white flowers gleam against the dark purple-black centres that stand well above the clumps of bright green leaves. The Ox-Eye Daisy is a perennial herb with a large woody tuber that sends out a relatively dense tuft of leafy stems up to 60 cm high; flowering begins in August after the fires, continuing until November. A component of the grassland biome, the Callilepis has an extensive range from the Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, growing in open areas, often on rocky sites, from sea-level to 1800 m. In the garden, its favoured situation would be among wild grasses and other grassland flowers. The plant dies back to rootstock in winter and re-sprouts in spring. NOTE: Tubers are poisonous! It makes a lovely garden plant if you can source some seed. Geoff Nichols, via Plantzafrica website, recommends collecting dry seed heads, clean off the chaff and sow when fresh in a light seeding mix of equal quantities coarse river sand and compost. Cover lightly and place in full sun and good ventilation. Keep moist and plant into individual containers at 6-8 weeks. Not to be confused with Dimorphotheca nudicaulis, also given the same common names. Flowers are large, about 60 mm in diameter. Leaves, 3-veined, either lanceolate or elliptic in shape, margins entire, decrease in size up the stem; lower leaves up to 64 x 20 cm in size. A companion grassland forb is H. appendiculatum (Sheep’s Ears Everlasting)