Daisy

A daisy is a flowering plant with a yellow center surrounded by white petals. Daisies belong to a huge plant family called Asteraceae, which also includes sunflowers, dandelions, and lettuce. There are more than 20,000 species in this family. Daisies grow on every continent except Antarctica.

The most famous kind is the common daisy, found in lawns and meadows across Europe and North America. Its scientific name is Bellis perennis, which means "pretty everlasting" in Latin. The English name "daisy" comes from the Old English words "day's eye." People noticed that the flower opens its petals in the morning and closes them at night, like an eye waking up and going to sleep.

Here is something surprising about a daisy. What looks like a single flower is not one flower at all. It is a tight cluster of many tiny flowers working together. The yellow center is made of hundreds of small flowers called disc florets. Each white petal around the edge is also its own flower, called a ray floret. Each one can make seeds. Botanists call this kind of cluster a composite flower.

This clever design helps daisies attract pollinators. Bees, butterflies, and small flies see the bright color from far away. When they land on the wide flat surface, they can visit dozens of tiny flowers in one stop. That helps the daisy spread pollen quickly without using much energy.

Daisies are tough plants. The common daisy grows close to the ground, which protects it from lawnmowers, hooves, and feet. After being stepped on or cut, it usually pops back up. It can bloom from early spring all the way through fall. A single plant can produce thousands of seeds in one year.

Other kinds of daisies look very different. The oxeye daisy stands two or three feet tall. The Shasta daisy was bred in California in the early 1900s by a famous plant breeder named Luther Burbank. The gerbera daisy comes from South Africa and blooms in bright pink, orange, and red. The African daisy closes up tight whenever clouds cover the sun.

People have grown daisies for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians painted them on pottery. In medieval Europe, knights wore daisies as symbols of true love. Today, kids still pull off the petals one by one, saying "loves me, loves me not." The daisy has stayed a favorite for the same reason it has survived so long: it is simple, sturdy, and almost always cheerful.