Gerbera, not just another big daisy.

I picked this stunning plant up for a few dollars at Bunnings.

Iv’e looked at these plants before, but there was a surprise in store.

Gerbera is a big daisy in the same family as sunflowers and gazania . Nothing to see here I haven’t noticed before. It’s a member of the asteraceae family.

Gazania and sunflowers are composite flowers. They have ray florets around the rim and disc flowers in the centre. What makes the composite Gerbera different?

Gerbera are composite flowers with three different floret types. The Gerbera flower head has ray flowers, trans flowers and disc flowers. What do trans flowers look like and how does their morphology differ? At first glance, it wasn’t obvious.

I’ll take more pics after these flowers develop, and have another look. I could google or risk AI but I’d rather complete my own investigation.