Wednesday, June 11, 2008

"Double Headed" Daisy?

Question:
Could you please tell me if it is possible to get a double or triple headed daisy? I have enclosed a photograph in the attachment.

Answer:
That photograph you sent is really wild looking, no pun intended. In short, I do not know of any growers that try to produce or specialize in bizarrely mutated plant forms like the one photographed. I am guessing that flower, obviously a member of the Aster family (Asteraceae), grew and blossomed as it did because of either a genetic mutation or perhaps some bizarre damage (insect related?) to the emerging flower bud which then allowed two flowers to bloom fused together. To be honest I do not think I have ever seen a mutation like this, but a coworker just mentioned over my shoulder that she has seen in the past tomato plant flowers fused together and produce some sort of “Siamese twin” tomatoes. What can I say, genetics and mutation is truly a fascinating aspect of science and horticulture. But again, sorry, I have to say that finding a flower like that in the trade is probably going to be pretty close to impossible. And trust me, I know some pretty nontraditional gardeners out there. But, if you do find a source, please pass it along!

4 comments:

  1. We found a double-headed daisy today. It was very odd, so we looked it up on the internet. Too our suprise, we learned that it is almost impossible to locate this type of phenomenom.

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  3. i just found a daisy like the 1 pictured but it seems to have 3 heads joined together i was just wondering wether these r rare and how they come to be joined together in such an odd way?

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  4. We've just found 2 eight headed daisies on our lawn.

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