Plant profile
In its first year of growth, anthyllis (an-til-lis) forms a lush green rosette of leaves at ground level. Only in the second year do flower stems grow, reaching heights of up to three feet and becoming densely covered in flowers from April to June. Stand by an anthyllis field on a warm day and you will hear the clear hum of insects as swarms of bees and butterflies visit the nectar-rich flowers.
Each anthyllis head is formed from multiple long petals surrounded by a green crown of leaves. Unlike other species in the plant kingdom, the individual flowers never open fully; instead, they form a cup in which nectar collects. The nectar can only be reached by insects with a long proboscis. The sepals, with their silky-soft hairs, surround the individual flowers like a circular shell that seems to cradle and protect them. The individual tubular flowers gradually wither and turn orangey brown. From a distance, you appear to be looking at a huge sea of radiantly bright, yellowish-orange flowers.
This chalk-loving plant is found in fallow fields and meadows, by the wayside and on sunny slopes, but never where the soil is over-fertilized.