Underground Journal

Interesting Things from Daisies

It is actually pretty surprising the number of things that come from the daisy family of flowers.  The common daisy, also called the English daisy, is what most of us probably picture when we hear the word for this flower but it is just one species of thousands in the daisy family (Asteraceae).

One thing that is a member of this family which some people might not have been aware of is the artichoke.  It doesn’t appear as bright and colorful as a common daisy flower, but it is a member of the same family.  When grown for commercial use in food, artichokes are harvested before they have a chance to flower.  If they are allowed to grow beyond the normal harvesting time, they bloom with many different colorful flowers.

Another interesting member of the daisy family is wormwood, which is one of the ingredients used to make absinthe and the source of the supposedly hallucinogenic properties of the drink.  The plant is not actually a tree as the word wood in the name would have you believe, but is actually a flowering plant.  The glands that cover the plant secrete a potent smelling oil used in the drink and by people for many years.

Lastly, the daisy family is also home to lettuce.  This includes six primary types of lettuce that is harvested commercially such as iceberg and romaine.  Again, not something that would generally be associated with a daisy, but a member of the family nonetheless.  The iceberg varieties have actually been bred to have less bitterness and with that a higher water content less nutritional value.

As a parting mention about the interesting types of daisy flowers, the way the flower is composed is not of a single flower head with different petals, but instead as a head of many small budding flowers clustered together with a ring of small ray flowers around them.  The daisy is definitely an interesting flower with a complex make up and an impressive success in nature over many years.  If you’d like to learn more about them another site to visit is daisyflowers.net.  No matter how deeply anyone dives into the information, it is clear that just about anyone can enjoy this beautiful flower in just about any setting.

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