Does the Shasta Daisy Have a Pistil & a Stamen?

That yellow patch is a field of small disc florets.

Shasta daisies look like average flowers with petals surrounding a center, but that center is actually composed of many tiny flowers. Because those smaller flowers occupy the space that normally houses a flower's reproductive organs, it might look like the Shasta daisy is lacking those organs. In reality, those small flowers each have their own reproductive parts.

Composite Structure

The Shasta daisy is a composite flower, meaning it is composed of several different small flowers. What we see as petals are ray florets or ray flowers, and what looks like a pile of pollen in the center is really a field of disc florets, each of which is a separate flower.

Ray vs. Disc

Ray florets have a small pistil down at the base of the "petal" but no stamen. Disc florets, though, are perfect flowers, meaning they have both male and female parts, or stamens and pistils. So the Shasta daisy, with all its disc florets, has multiple stamens and pistils.

Inside View

Daisy disc florets are shaped like a tube. Utah State University says there are actually five stamens in the disc florets of composite flowers--the whole male structure is called an androecium--that are fused around the style, which is a part of the pistil.

References

• Utah State University: Asteraceae
• University of Hawaii: Flower Terminology
• Colorado State University: Plant Structures: Flowers
• University of Minnesota: Add Daisies to Your Garden
• Ohio State University: Asteraceae
• Ohio State University: Corolla Variations

Resources

• University of Nebraska, Lincoln: Asteraceae