Daisy, daisy give me your answer do

I snapped this at the roadside amidst some stunted grass and tyre marks.

It is a weed, so called, and for many, that means it is something to get rid of or remove.

Even its name dictates its place in nature’s pecking order - “The common daisy.” This is to miss the fact that environmentally, many of our so-called 'weeds' are beneficial to wildlife, providing food for nectar-loving insects and shelter for minibeasts! Daisies can also operate as excellent, easily tended ground cover in many environments.

For me a daisy is more than an annoyance. It is a complex thing. It is made up of two types of flowers - disk florets and petal-like white ray florets. The disk florets are at the centre and the ray florets are at the periphery but they are arranged to give the impression of being a single flower.

It has cultural relevance, in that in folk-lore a daisy symbolizes innocence and purity. It can also symbolize new beginnings as captured in its Old English name "day's eye".

Since the early 19th Century it has also been used as a girl’s name and as a nickname for girls named Margaret.  I have always wondered why this was so, but it seems to come from the French name for the oxeye daisy, marguerite”!

So mock these lowly flowers at your peril, never underestimate the potential of the insignificant to make us stop and reflect on nature and all its glory!