Daisy

Where it grows

The common lawn daisy grows native across Europe and western Asia and has naturalised in temperate grasslands worldwide. It tolerates mowing, treading, and grazing; nothing kills it short of dense shade or persistent drought, which is why it remains the universal weed of European lawns.

How to recognise it

A flat rosette of small, spoon-shaped leaves sits at ground level, sending up single flower stems two to ten centimetres tall. Each composite “flower” is in fact a head of many tiny florets: a central disc of yellow tubular ones surrounded by a ring of white strap-shaped rays, often tinged pink underneath.

Garden & cultural uses

Children worldwide thread the slender stems into daisy chains and play loves-me-loves-me-not by plucking the rays. Herbalists historically used the leaves crushed as a salve for bruises, earning the name bruisewort. Cultivars such as Pomponette and Habanera grow taller, doubled, and brightly coloured for spring bedding.

In language

The name comes from the Old English daeges eage, “day’s eye,” because the flower opens at dawn and closes against night and rain. The phrase “fresh as a daisy” preserves the same idea.