Its flowers, typically white with yellow centers, grow from numerous fairly rigid stems.

The plant is economically important as a natural source of an insecticide called "pyrethrum."

The flowers are pulverized and the active components, called pyrethrins, contained in the seed cases, are extracted and sold in the form of an oleoresin.

Pyrethrins attack the nervous systems of all insects, and inhibit female mosquitoes from biting.

They are harmful to fish, but are far less toxic to mammals and birds than many synthetic insecticides and are not persistent, being biodegradable and also decompose easily on exposure to light.