The daisy is one of the most recognizable flowers, often conjuring an image of a simple white bloom with a yellow center. This classic perception is based on the common English Daisy, Bellis perennis, native to Europe and western Asia. While white and yellow is the most widespread combination, the botanical family Asteraceae holds a much wider spectrum of colors. The diversity of “daisies” reveals a palette that extends beyond the familiar, encompassing pinks, reds, oranges, and even purples.
The Classic Daisy Colors
The common English Daisy, Bellis perennis, establishes the baseline for the flower’s characteristic two-tone appearance. What appears to be a single flower is actually a composite flower head, known botanically as a capitulum, composed of two distinct types of smaller flowers called florets.
The outer ring consists of ray florets, which look like petals and are typically white in the wild form. The central portion is densely packed with tubular disk florets, which are consistently bright yellow. This structure of white ray florets surrounding a yellow disk is why the plant is sometimes nicknamed the “day’s eye.” The disk florets are hermaphroditic, while the ray florets are female, forming the composite flower head ubiquitous in lawns and meadows.
Unveiling the Hidden Hues
The color spectrum of the true daisy, Bellis perennis, expands through natural variations and selective cultivation. Gardeners have long selected traits that intensify or alter the pigment in the ray florets. These variations are primarily found within the ray florets, while the disk florets generally remain yellow.
The white ray florets of the wild daisy are often tipped with a blush of pink or red, especially when the flower is young. Centuries of breeding have intensified this subtle tipping, creating numerous cultivars that feature shades of rose, deep pink, and rich red. Varieties like the Bellis ‘Tasso’ or ‘Habanera’ series can be nearly fully saturated with color.
Cultivated English Daisies often display a double-flowered form where numerous ray florets nearly obscure the central yellow disk. This creates a pom-pom appearance that is entirely pink, red, or white. Bicolored varieties are also common, featuring a white base with contrasting pink or red edges. This expansion of the color range remains within the Bellis perennis species, offering a much more varied palette than the wild lawn daisy suggests.
Daisy Relatives and Mislabeled Flowers
The widest range of colors associated with “daisies” comes from different genera within the large Asteraceae family. The public often applies the name “daisy” to any flower with a classic radiating, composite flower head, even if they are not true Bellis species. This broad categorization introduces vibrant colors like orange, deep purple, and blue.
One popular example is the Gerbera daisy, Gerbera jamesonii, native to South Africa and a staple in the cut flower industry. Gerbera daisies are celebrated for their large, showy blooms in a vast array of colors, including vivid reds, bright oranges, yellows, pinks, and whites. Although a different genus from the English Daisy, their prominent ray and disk floret structure gives them the familiar daisy appearance.
African Daisies (genus Osteospermum) further expand the color possibilities, introducing shades of purple, yellow, orange, and bicolored combinations. Some African Daisy hybrids have a distinct, almost metallic blue center surrounded by colored ray florets. The Painted Daisy (Tanacetum coccineum) provides another example, contributing deep magenta and crimson tones to the general “daisy” umbrella.