Plant of the Month · May 2026
Grass Daisy
Brachyscome graminea
A vulnerable wetland workhorse
When the native Grass Daisy or Brachyscome graminea is flowering it is unmistakably a daisy, bringing you straight back to the school oval making daisy chains in the sun. When it’s not flowering, though, you could squint and think it was a wild patch of grass, which explains both the common and botanical names (graminea means grass, in case you don’t speak Latin).
The Grass Daisy is a wetland or riparian plant that can tolerate periods of complete inundation. It quickly scrambles around a swampy area with stolons or runners, forming a verdant groundcover. The network of roots holds soil together, preventing erosion.
In spring and summertime, white flowers attract bees, butterflies and beetles. The nectar-filled centres make wonderful pollination pit stops. As with all daisies — or everything in the Asteraceae family — what appears to be one flower is actually a composite of hundreds of flowers in a disc, giving the pollinators way more for their money.
Of course, this isn’t the exact flower you’d have been plucking and threading on the oval’s edge (please don’t!). Chances are you haven’t seen it in real life — yet! Its conservation status is Vulnerable through most of South Australia, including here on the Fleurieu, with populations around Finniss River and Meadows Creek. Along with being restricted to wet areas, it is at risk of being outcompeted by weeds. This is one of those plants that could do with a helping hand, so that’s exactly what we’re doing here at Forktree.
We have a romping patch of Grass Daisy in our Rare Seed Orchard which we use to collect material and propagate tubestock each year in our nursery. The Grass Daisy grows from seed, cuttings and plugs. This year we have grown over 300 plants for private and public biodiversity projects, including at Myponga Reservoir and swamplands in the Fleurieu.
Want to play a part in restoring biodiversity on the Fleurieu Peninsula? Come and volunteer at The Forktree Project Nursery and help us grow vulnerable South Australian plants for future restoration projects. Please send us an email at hello@theforktreeproject.com to find out more.