CHARACTERISTICS OF ANNUAL DAISY
Common English name: annual daisy
The English name comes from “day’s eye” (eye of the day), in reference to its beauty, as their flowers open during the day, and close when the sun goes down.
Scientific name: Bellis annua L.
Family: Compositae
Habitat: annual plant native to central and northern Europe. Common in European meadows, forests, streams and road margins. It stands frost.
Annual daisy characteristics
The primrose or annual daisy (Bellis annua) is an annual, herbaceous stems belonging to the plant family Compositae.
Like other species of its family, this daisy grows as a rosette (basal leaves) and is low rise, about 15 – 20cm. It has roots with rhizome, cylindrical and creeping.
Stems erect, simple or branched, pubescent. Its leaves are stalked, oval, spatulate and toothed. Each leaf has a size between 3 and 5 cm. long, bright green.
The inflorescence of this plant is the typical of composite plants. The floral head consists of an involucre, bracts consisting of 2-4cm. in diameter.
Inside the involucre numerous minute flowers are arranged.
Floral heads on long peduncles or flower stalks, which can have leaves. Flowers in winter.
The fruit is an achene of 0.8 to 0.7 mm in diameter, pubescent. The seeds are spread by wind, rain, wild animals and even humans.
| Actually, a Daisy is not a flower but an inflorescence. It belongs to the Compositae family, and as the name implies, it is composed of many tiny flowers, yellow, arranged in a flower head. |
Daisy species
Gender Bellis spp. has different types of daisies:
– Annual daisy (Bellis annua): Annual daisy cycle.
– Common daisy (Bellis perennis): small perennial daisy, remains evergreen. Common in central and northern Europe. Widespread in Asia Minor and naturalized in North America and New Zealand.
– Southern daisy (Bellis sylvestris): wild daisies, leaves and larger flowers than Bellis perennis and Bellis annua
| Botanical classification | |
| Kingdom | Plantae |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta Vascular plants |
| Superdivision | Spermatophyta Seed plants |
| Division | Magnoliophyta Flower plants |
| Class | Magnoliopsida Dicotyledons |
| Subclass | Asteridae |
| Order | Asterales |
| Family | Asteraceae o Compositae |
| Subfamily | Asteroideae |
| Tribe | Astereae |
| Gender | Bellis |
| Species | B. annua |
More information about daisy.
