Ray floretsThe petal-like flowers around the rim. Each strap is one flower.
Disk floretsThe tiny tube-shaped flowers packed into the center of the head.
ReceptacleThe dome at the top of the stem. Every floret sits on it.
Bracts (phyllaries)Small leaves under the head. They cover it while it is a bud.
StemIt holds the head up. On a daisy it has no leaves.
Sunflower florets 6
Chaff (palea)A thin scale on the receptacle beside each disk floret.
OvaryThe bottom of the floret. It ripens into the sunflower seed.
Corolla tubeThe petals of the floret, joined into a tube with five teeth.
Anther tubeThe anthers, joined in a sleeve around the style. They shed pollen inside.
StigmaThe two curled tips of the style. They catch pollen.
LiguleThe flat strap of a ray floret, made of petals joined together.
How this list was compiled: Every name was checked on 2026-09-30 against sources read that day; a name is kept only when two of them use it. (1) Wikipedia, text only: Asteraceae, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteraceae (what looks like one daisy flower is a head, or capitulum; the petals are strap-shaped ray flowers or ray florets and the disk is made of disc flowers or disc florets; the florets sit on a dome-like receptacle; the bracts under the head are phyllaries and together form the involucre, which protects the young head; the ligule is a strap of fused petals; disc florets have five petal lips at the rim of the corolla tube; the anthers are joined in a tube around the style; style with stigmas; the ovary is inferior with one ovule; a bract beside a floret is a palea, often called chaff), Bellis perennis, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellis_perennis (ray florets and disc florets; two rows of bracts known as phyllaries; each head on a single leafless stem), Common sunflower, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_sunflower (the flower is a flower head; ray flowers and disk flowers; each petal is a ligule), and Pseudanthium, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudanthium . (2) North Dakota State University Extension, Sunflower Production Guide (A1331), https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/extension/publications/sunflower-production-guide (sunflower has a composite flower: showy ray flowers encircle the head and are commonly called petals, though each is a flower of its own; the center is made of single disk flowers, one for every seed that may develop, which mature in circles from the head's outside to the center; ray flowers are sterile; bract; involucral bract; receptacle, the fleshy part of the head just above the stem, bearing the flower parts; the anthers and stigmas of the disk flowers; chaffy material from the disk flowers; the achene is the fruit, of hull and kernel, and the kernel is the true seed). (3) C. Stuart Gager, Fundamentals of Botany, 1916, public domain, https://archive.org/details/fundamentalsofbo00gagerich (Composite family: the flowers are borne on a common receptacle in a compact head, surrounded by a circle of bracts; bracts on the receptacle among the flowers are called chaff; ray-flower and disc-flower; tubular and ligulate corollas; the anthers united in a tube around the style; the stigmas; the ovary). (4) John N. Martin, Botany for Agricultural Students, 1919, public domain, https://archive.org/details/botanyforagricul00mart (composite flowers: a head with strap-shaped flowers around the margin and tubular flowers in the center; strap-shaped and tubular corollas; stamens forming a tube around the pistil). Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain curves; own work, nothing traced. Licence: own work
How it works
Parts of a daisy are not the parts of one flower. Each petal-like strap is a ray floret, the center is a crowd of disk florets, and all of them sit on one receptacle.
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A head, not a flower
What looks like one flower is a flower head. The ray florets around the rim attract insects. The disk florets fill the center. Small leaves called bracts, or phyllaries, wrap the head from below.
Parts of a sunflower diagram
A sunflower is built the same way, only bigger. One disk floret has an ovary at the bottom, a corolla tube of joined petals, a tube of joined anthers and a two-part stigma. In a sunflower only the disk florets make seeds.
Count the petals of a daisy and you are counting flowers.
Disk florets open in rings, from the rim of the head toward the middle.
Questions and answers
What is the center of a daisy called?
The disk. It is packed with tiny disk florets, each one a complete flower. With the ray florets around it, it makes up the flower head, also called the capitulum.
Are the petals of a daisy really petals?
No. Each one is a whole flower called a ray floret. Its flat strap, the ligule, is made of petals that have grown together.
What are the small leaves under a daisy head called?
Bracts, or phyllaries. They cover the head while it is a bud. Together they are called the involucre.
Is a sunflower seed really a seed?
It is a dry fruit, called an achene, with one seed inside. The shell is the hull and the kernel is the true seed. Each one grows from the ovary of one disk floret.