Two Immigrants: Western Honeybee and Oxeye Daisy

This Western Honeybee was looking for pollen/nectar on this Oxeye Daisy [1]. Both these species followed Europeans to North America; neither is native to the continent. To see this sight 400 years ago, you couldn't have been in New Jersey since the species hadn't arrived here yet [2]. Today feral honeybees are very common and Oxeye Daisies are not uncommon, just 2 of the many ways that we've altered local ecosystems.

It sounds like Oxeye Daisy can dominate a meadow, though I don't usually see that around here. It's possible this is because we've got even more aggressively invasive plants that thwart it.

June 3, 2023 at John Clyde Native Grassland Preserve
Photo 300859439, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

[1] I'm pretty confident that the flower is not a Mayweed (another non-native) since it has quite a few petals and there isn't a notch at the end of the petals.

[2] Technically there wasn't a New Jersey 400 years ago either.

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