Invasive Species Spotlight: Wedelia, aka Creeping Oxeye

 Sunny, bright, hearty Wedelia is beloved by gardeners and homeowners- but is causing serious damage to Florida's natural areas.

If you’re like me, you’ve probably been going on more walks, bike rides, or outings near your home since March. That makes this the perfect time to learn more about invasive plants that you can find in your own neighborhood! This month’s spotlight species, Sphagneticola trilobata (also known as wedelia or creeping oxeye) is extremely common in coastal and wet areas, but can be found in other spots too, especially in places where people water their lawns frequently. It’s a major groundcover plant in many neighborhoods- look for small, mostly three-lobed leaves and lots of tiny yellow flowers with bright-yellow centers.

Wedelia growing through tall grass

Wedelia's distinctive, three-lobed leaves

Wedelia probably came to Florida to be used as a hearty ornamental groundcover. Its fast growth and lovely, bright yellow flowers made it popular all over the state. Although it can become very weedy and take over grass lawns, many homeowners allow it to spread since it’s so attractive. Because this plant is so hardy and difficult to kill, and because it can grow from small fragments of root, it has quickly spread outside of lawns and gardens to become a major pest plant in Florida’s wetter areas. Yard waste from lawns with wedelia growing in them usually contains root fragments that allow the plant to spread, and when that waste makes its way into a natural area, a new infestation begins.

Wedelia flowers (note the yellow centers)

Wedelia doesn’t spread much by seed, but rather by roots called rhizomes. It forms extremely dense mats, growing over other plants and suppressing the germination of other species’ seeds. If you hike along the edges of rivers, creeks, and wetlands, you’ll often come across large fields of these delicate-looking yellow flowers, and they can grow in upland habitat too when provided with enough rainfall. If you hike, bike, or birdwatch in Florida’s natural areas, you’ve seen this plant- it’s just so low-growing that it tends to blend into the background.

A thick mat of Wedelia taking over a lawn

Wedelia has become such a global problem that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has added it to their list of the 100 worst invasive species in the world. It’s also listed as a Category II invasive species by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Control Council (FLEPPC), meaning that it is rapidly increasing in abundance with the capacity to someday seriously alter Florida’s native ecosystems.

If you have this lovely but destructive plant in your yard, please consider replacing it with a native or Florida- friendly groundcover plant! Native options like powderpuff mimosa are best, but Florida-friendly plants like perennial peanut are still a good choice and have been proven not to spread and cause undue ecosystem damage.

For more information about Wedelia, visit the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Science (IFAS) species page. 

For more general information about invasive plants in Florida, visit the IFAS Center for Invasive and Aquatic Plants homepage.