If you asked a child to draw a flower, chances are they’d create something that looked like a daisy — a round centre encircled by a ring of slender petals. The humble lawn daisy, Bellis perennis, is a plant that introduces many children to nature: one of my first childhood memories is sitting on sun-warmed grass making daisy chains. The simple structure of the flower heads — the central disc is actually made up of lots of tiny flowers — has evolved to attract pollinators, creating the ideal landing pads for passing bees, butterflies and hoverflies, but there’s something about their uncomplicated beauty that appeals to humans too.
The daisy family, asteraceae, vies with orchids for the title of the largest plant family in
