The humble daisy has been chosen as Dutch national flower by listeners to radio programme Vroege Vogels.

Many European countries have a national flower and it is time for the Netherlands to follow suit, the vote organisers said.

Dutch national symbol, the tulip, wasn’t among the candidates because it doesn’t grow in the wild in the Netherlands. It is also the national flower of Hungary and Turkey, where it originated. Tulips weren’t introduced in the Netherlands until the 16th century.

Some 53,000 people took part in the vote, with a large majority preferring the daisy to the dandelion, mayflower, cow parsley and fritillary.

The daisy is a very Dutch choice, botanist Rogier van Vught told the programme. “It says something about the type of natural environment we have here. Ours are the small things you have to seek out and then grow to love.”

“Most people will recognise a daisy,” botanical philosophy expert Norbert Peters said. “It would be a shame if you had to explain to people what the national flower looks like.”

Nature minister Christianne van der Wal said the election is “a way of making people more aware of the beautiful wild flowers around us.”