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Helen is a freelance copy and content writer, enthusiastic about science and history. To learn more about her work visit her Linked-In profile. While some gardeners may have originally considered daisies to be a weed, it’s obvious that this flower offers much to the environment in the way of beauty as well as health. Some people don’t realize that many of the varieties of daisies are edible and healthy when eaten in salads or used to decorate sweet baked goods such as cakes. Even better, it might be nice to gift someone a pot with planted daisies so they will last much longer. Whether they are grown at home or sourced from a florist or garden shop, daisies make a lovely gift on National Daisy Day or really any time of the year! Make Plans to Attend a Daisy Festival
The Yellow Daisy Festival that takes place in Stone Mountain, Georgia is typically scheduled for mid-September. This festival has been a local attraction for more than fifty years and was even voted one of the top arts and crafts shows in the United States. And, of course, there are plenty of daisy-themed activities and attractions to stay busy with and enjoy! Other common names for the Daisy are ‘Bruisewort’, ‘Bairnwort’ (from Scotland, refering to the joy of children gathering the flowerheads to make Daisy-chains) and ‘Llygad y Dydd’ (from the Welsh for ‘Eye of the Day’). 5 Being a close relation to Arnica montana, Daisies are also sometimes called ‘Poor Man’s Arnica’. 2 Morikawa, T., Ninomiya, K., Takamori, Y., Nishida, E., Yasue, M., Hayakawa, T., Muraoka, O., Li, X., Nakamura, S., Yoshikawa, M. and Matsuda, H. (2015) Oleanane-type triterpene saponins with collagen synthesis-promoting activity from the flowers of Bellis perennis, Phytochemistry, 116: 203-212. Our lives both before and after we met and married have been full of surprises, funny incidents, and bizarre situations. We have both lived through ‘interesting times.’ What has kept us going through good times and bad has been our shared ironic sense of humour and strong self-belief that there will be a path through to better days. We’ve tapped into our memories with our writing. Adding a good splash of over-active imagination and incredulity to come up with the characters and plots.
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Bruton-Seal, J. and Seal, M. (2017) Wayside Medicine: Forgotten plants and how to use them, Merlin Unwin Books, Ludlow, Shropshire, UK. One great way to enjoy and celebrate National Daisy Day would be to gift someone a large bouquet of daisies. Whether it’s a friend, favorite coworkers, spouse or neighbor, this is the day to brighten up someone’s life with some daisies. Another recommendation from Gerard was to use them to ease fevers. 4 In Mrs Grieves, she quotes a Dr Hill who, in 1777, used an infusion of Daisy leaves as a cure for a ‘Hectic fever’.
The last more unusual superstition associated with Daisies was that feeding a small puppy Daisy juice mixed with milk would prevent it from growing. 4, 5 I have seen this recorded in a few places but have no idea where the idea came from. Culpepper does say that an infusion of Daisy mixed with asses milk is good for consumption of the lungs, but doesn’t mention puppies! 3 There are many superstitions about the cheerful little Daisy flowers that grow in our lawns, but their wound-healing properties are no longer in doubt. Life has bowled us some odd balls from time to time, which have inspired our books. Not going into details – don’t want to give any plot lines away.
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The other use for the leaves was as a wound healer for bruises and swellings. 4 Mrs Grieves adds that it has ‘…a great reputation as a cure for fresh wounds…’ This was achieved using an ointment and applying it externally rather than taking the plant internally and this was apparently a well-known remedy in the fourteenth century. 5 Culpepper says Daisies are ’…accounted good to dissolve congealed and coagulated blood…’. 3 A wound-healer during wars, a flower to keep small children safe and something sprinkled over the Earth by God to cheer parents up when their infant died. The superstitions and stories associated with Daisies are many and varied. But do any of them hold any truth? Daisies are often seen growing in many lawns between March and October. They are often-overlooked nowadays but as Culpepper says ‘This is another herb which nature has made common, because it may be useful’. | Credit Helen Miller A later study found seven new saponins (constituents that have soap-like attributes and lower surface tension) in Daisy flowers. These saponins promote collagen synthesis, without any toxic side-effects. Collagen is the main structural constituent of skin. Therefore, the finding that Daisies contribute to collagen synthesis would explain why they have been used in wound healing. The actual mechanism of how this works, however, is still not known. 8 One type of saponin in Daisy flowers has also been found to inhibit tumours. 7
Another event that honors this venerable flower is the Daisy Festival Outdoor Fest in Albert Lea, Minnesota. Typically taking place on the first weekend in September, this festival includes arts, musical performances, crafts and more. The festivities are located in the historic downtown Albert Lea Central Park. Karakas, P. Sohretoglu, D., Liptaj, T., Stujber, M., Turker, A. U., Marak, J., Calis, I. and Yalcin, F. N. (2014) Isolation of an oleanane-type saponin active from Bellis perennis through antitumor bioassay-guided procedures, Pharmaceutical Biology, 52(8):951-955. The Latin name for Daisy is Bellis perennis. The meaning of this is not quite as straight forward. The genus, Bellis, could be either from the Latin for war, ‘bellum’, or from the Latin for beauty, ‘bellus’. 5 Another idea is that it is after the nymph, Belides, who transformed into a Daisy to escape the attention of Vertumnus (the Roman God of Seasons and Gardens). 5, 9 Karakas, P. Karakas, A., Boran, I., Turker, A. U., Yalcin, F. N. and Bilensoy, E. (2012) The evaluation of topical administration of Bellis perennis fraction on circular excision wound healing in Wista albino rats, Pharmaceutical Biology, 50(8):1031-1037.We are retired (except for writing books – but that’s more like a hobby and no one tells us to go to work so that doesn’t count) The second superstition of Daisy chains was so that Daisies could be worn by both sexes. By making the Daisies into a circle, evil spirits were prevented from passing though. This meant the children would not be stolen away by the Little/Faery Folk. Older children passed this skill onto the younger children, ensuring they all stayed safe. 2
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