Yellow Oxeye

Telekia speciosa is a herbaceous perennial, which can grow up to 2 metres tall. Leaves are green, triangular, doubly-serrate and long-petioled. Plant leaves can range from 10 to 40 cm long. The leaves are also glabrous on their surface and possess hairs on the undersides. Younger ovate stem leaves are sessile. Plants will bloom from early summer to early autumn. Flowers are hosted on slender stems. Flowers appear daisy-like with ragged yellow petals.

This species is native to much of Europe, where it can be found in: Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, Slovakia, Bulgaria and North Macedonia. It is also native to the Baltic states, North and South Caucasus and Central and Northwest European Russia.

The flowers of Telekia speciosa are used by a large variety of pollinating insects including various species of bee, butterfly and hoverfly. Butterflies such as the European peacock (Aglais io), the common swallowtail (Papilio machaon), the green-veined white (Pieris napi) and the high brown fritillary (Argynnis adippe) have been recorded to feed from the flower of T. speciosa. Bee species such as the bumblebee (Bombus semenoviellus) also pollinate the flowers of T. speciosa. The seeds of T. speciosa are consumed by seed eating birds such as goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) and other finch species. Telekia speciosa is the food plant of the aphid species Uroleucon telekiae, which is monophagous and feeds from no other plant species.

The fungi Golovinomyces inulae, which causes powdery mildew and Coleosporium telekiae, which causes rust can both infect T. speciosa.