COMPOSITE FAMILY 



Yellow disk-florets packed upon a hemispherical recepta- 

 cle; as these florets mature the disk becomes cone-shaped, 

 and chaffy. No pappus. Akenes ribbed. 



Mayweed is a cosmopolite, at home all over the world, 

 and so thoroughly has it understood the business of 

 being a weed that its native land is a matter of doubt. 

 A little bushy plant, growing each year from seed, 

 it reaches the height of one to two feet, bears flowers 

 from every branch and branchlet, lives where it must, 

 rejoices in plenty, gets on with very Httle, and is 

 possessed of a wonderful vitaHty that enables it to 

 conquer the world. So far as one can see it is not 

 of the slightest use, moreover the odor of flower and 

 leaf is unpleasant. The alternating leaf is so finely 

 cut and divided that it is little short of a green fringe 

 adorning stem and branch. The flower resembles a 

 little Daisy. The yellow disk-florets are closely packed 

 in a central head which, as they mature, becomes cone- 

 shaped. This is surrounded with a circle of white, 

 grooved and notched ray-florets. When night comes, 

 the head puts back these ray-florets against the stalk 

 in such a way that they suggest the ears of a frightened 

 rabbit. Why they do this is a difl&cult question, as 

 apparently it leaves the disk-florets exposed to wet 

 and cold instead of protected. 



A Scandinavian name for the Mayweed, curiously 

 enough, is Balder's Brow. Balder was the Norse god 

 of summer, the brief summer so dear to the dwellers 

 of the north, and naturally its god was the most 

 beloved of all the gods of the pantheon. Sacred to 

 him was this little Daisy — day's eye, which typified the 

 sun. The golden centre was the eye of Balder, the 

 white rays the light which streamed from the sun. 



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