The sight of oceans of nodding white daisies with sunshine yellow centres carpeting the Murree Hills is something that, once seen, can never be forgotten as the beauty is overpowering.

Made into flower garlands by local children and the children of both Gujjar and Afghan nomads who sell them to tourists to make some ready cash, these glorious daises are, sadly, not as common as they used to be and their numbers are dwindling year by year.

Called ‘ox-eye daisies’ in English and botanically known as ‘leucanthemum vulgare syn: Chrysanthemum leucanthemum L.’ and native to Temperate Eurasia, these hardy perennial plants flourish on poor, rocky soil, with very little water and stand an astonishing amount of direct sunshine, wind and, in the winter, extreme cold and snow. They come into flower from the end of April onwards, their first flowering season usually ending towards late June/early July with some of them having a second attempt, far less successful, during the autumn months.

Adored by all kinds of bees, butterflies and many other beneficial insects, these eye-catching flowers are being adversely affected by a number of things. In and around Murree itself, their habitat is being destroyed by more and more construction, by indiscriminate dumping of garbage and by the uncontrolled discharge of sewage from hotels and other properties. A lady who used to live near the Survey of Pakistan Building on Cart Road, Murree, recalled how entire hillsides there were once blanketed with these daisies during the season but when she visited recently there was hardly a one to be seen. “We used to roll down the hill among the daisies when we were children,” she said. “But now, even if daisies were there, rolling on the ground would be impossible as the area is full of garbage and sewage. It is terrible to see this happening.”

This is not to say that these trademark daisies are difficult to spot now as they are still to be seen in very large numbers but, the way things are going and the speed at which environmental degradation is racing, then in say another 10 to 20 years the story is liable to be a very different one indeed. The thing is that action to first save and then prevent any further environmental destruction throughout the entire area must be instigated right now. Waiting until the environment is so terribly damaged that saving it will be next to impossible is not the way to proceed. Taking remedial action at the earliest possible time is a must to protect the natural world and everything in it for future generations.

Tourist visiting the hillside must think before throwing away wrappers and empty plastic bottles wherever they like, because they are spoiling the very area that they have come to see for its natural beauty. If this goes on, it would not be a place they would look forward to visiting in the future.