Nature notes: Daisies

Daisies can be found in flower all through the winter, but now many more are springing up on lawns and other smooth grassy spaces. This little white flower has given its name to a vast family, the daisy (or sometimes aster) family, with 25,000 species worldwide. However, it is often passed by unnoticed because it is both small and familiar. Its petals usually have a red tip on the underside, and in bud it can look more red than white. Its name, which goes back to Anglo-Saxon times, is a form of “day’s eye”. It records the fact that the flower closes up at night, and opens again in the morning. Many poets have written about it. Contemplating the daisies opening as the sun came up, Chaucer wrote: “That blissful sight softeneth all my sorrows.” Another member of the family is the dandelion. Its rosettes of jagged leaves can be seen on the ground everywhere, and many of the yellow flowers are out.