The New Student's Reference Work/Daisy

Daisy, a familiar wild flower and member of the Composite family. Alice Dowd speaks of it as “one of the most successful flowers in, the most successful of flower families.” The farmer often calls it a weed, thinking wrathfully of its “success.” The white rays of the White Daisy or White Weed attract insects, and in the closely-packed flowers that form the center the visitors find a feast that invites them to linger. It is also known as the Common Daisy, Ox-Eye Daisy, Love-Me, Love-Me-Not and Marguerite. The Daisy is the national flower of Italy. The name Daisy means Day's Eye, the English daisy closing with the close of day. This is a near relation of our white daisy, but has a pinkish tinge. It is the “wee, modest, crimson-tippit flower” of which Burns sang. Our Purple Daisy, the so-called Late Purple Aster, has a wide range, from Massachusetts to Minnesota and southward to the Gulf. The Blue Spring Daisy or Robin's Plantain flowers from April to June, is distributed east of the Mississippi, and prefers moist ground, grassy fields, hills and banks. The little Michaelmas Daisy bears a wealth of lovely feathery bloom, which may last to December. The Pig-Stye Daisy or Dog-Fennel is in ill-repute, as its name suggests; a rank weed, the unpleasant odor is repulsive to insects generally with the exception of flies, its chief fertilizers. From the western clover fields the ox-eye has even crossed the Atlantic, and in Europe found itself in high favor—no longer a weed, but given place in stately gardens.