This is a member of the daisy or compositae family Bill. The Compositae (plants in the daisy or sunflower family) form one of the largest families of flowering plants with some 25,000 species (roughly 10% of the total number of flowering plants) in over 1,500 genera. It is one of the "core families" on which research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is concentrated.
The Compositae are instantly recognisable, through their compound inflorescences consisting of many tiny flowers: a daisy has a yellow "core" of 200 disc florets,surrounded by 50 marginal, white ray florets with a conspicuous limb. A single daisy "flower" contains about 250 separate flowers! A sunflower has basically the same format. A dandelion consists of one kind of florets ("ligulate") only, but still has many florets combining to look like a single flower. In the fruit stage, however, all the individual fruits are clearly visible, each with its own "parachute" (the so-called pappus).
The Compositae have a considerable ecological and economical importance. Members of the family occur from the polar regions to the tropics, and may range over all habitats from dry desert to swamp, and from rainforest to mountain peaks. In many regions of the world they comprise up to a tenth of the flora. The family contains some very large genera (Senecio with 1,250 species, Helichrysum (everlastings) with 600 species, Hieracium with 1000 species). There have been a large number in evidence in the UK this year due to favourable spring conditions
Bill Phillips: I did "A" Level botany and didn't know any of this
Looks like it could be some sort of daisy. I like the grass seeds looking in.
"A" level botany? Surely that's now the equivalent these days of a Professorship at one of these funny universities we used to call Technical Colleges when I was young.
Bill Phillips: I have got A level Zoology and Chemistry too. It all went downhill after that and I ended up selling things
Omnibus edition ...
Red wing Croome ...
flower 13/948