Florapass
English
Least Gagea

Least Gagea

Gagea minima

Identify the Least Gagea from a photo and log your finds with Florapass.

Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play.

How common: Very common

Alien species

Least Gagea is a tiny spring flower from a bulb with bright yellow, star‑shaped blooms. It pops up early in lawns, meadows, parks and streamside woods, then fades away as taller plants grow. You may spot it in small scattered groups.

Did you know?

  • It appears very early, then vanishes under taller plants as spring advances.
  • It often spreads to new places with garden soil and plant clumps.

About the species

Identification

Small spring plant from a bulb, 7–15 cm tall, with a straight, unbranched stem. Usually one narrow, grass‑like leaf grows from the base, only 1–3 mm wide, long‑tapered and yellow‑green. The flowers are bright yellow and star‑shaped, in a loose little bunch of 1–7 at the stem top. Just below the bunch there is a small green leaf that is much wider than the others. After flowering it makes small three‑sided seed pods. Distinguished from Yellow Gagea, which is taller and has a much broader single leaf. Flowers in Finland in May.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

meadow

Flowering

May

About the habitat

Grows in light, moist to fresh places such as riverbanks and streamside woods, fresh meadows, road verges, rocky lawns, yards and parks. An established old arrival. Common in southern Finland, rare in central Finland, absent from Lapland.

Sources

Photo: Sashko, CC0 1.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6178986810

Text: Pinkka: Laaja maatalouslajintuntemus 4 op - Koppisiemeniset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40016

Text: Pinkka: A Pohjolan kasveja - Gagea-Hepatica, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40016

Text: Pinkka: Kasvitieteen retkeily Ahvenanmaalle - Nåtön biologinen asema, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40016

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikkuk%C3%A4enrieska

See also