The "petals" or "sunrays" in an "asteraceous" head are in fact individual strap-shaped flowers called ray flowers or ray florets, and the "sun disk" is made up of smaller, radially symmetric, individual flowers called disc flowers or disc florets. The word aster means "star" in Greek, referring to the appearance of most family members as a "celestial body with rays". The capitulum, which often appears to be a single flower, is often referred to as a head. In some species, the entire head is able to pivot its floral stem in the course of the day to track the sun (like a "smart" solar panel), thus maximizing the reflectivity of the entire floral unit and further attracting flying pollinators.
The "petals" or "sunrays" in an "asteraceous" head are in fact individual strap-shaped flowers called ray flowers or ray florets, and the "sun, disk" is made up of smaller, radially symmetric, individual flowers called disc flowers or disc florets. The word aster means "star" in Greek, referring to the appearance of most family members as a "celestial body. with rays". The capitulum, which often appears to be a single flower is often referred to as a head In some species, the entire head is able to pivot its floral stem in the course of the day to track the sun (like a "smart" solar panel), thus maximizing the reflectivity of the entire floral unit and further attracting flying pollinators.