n.Msv 



49 



Daisy 



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Founil in the Xoiih Icnipcratc Zone in luinijK' oencnilly at the 

 present time, tlierr is nothing to indicate that ilu' Daisy is an ancieiu 

 plant in Great Britain. The Daisy is ubiquitous, ^rovvinL; in every 

 part of Great Britain, and ascending- to 3000 ft. in the Highlands. 



So common is the Daisy that its occurrence is scarccl\- noted, and 

 if it were not that it is absent from wooded districts one nuL^ln consider 

 it as the commonest of British ])lants, except the Annual .Meadow 

 Grass, but as the latter is driven from arable soil prcjbably the two are 

 about on a level in 

 this respect. Fields, 

 highways, hills, as 

 well as dales, are 

 everywhere studded 

 with Daisies in the 

 spring and summer 

 months. 



The habit of the 

 Daisy is the rosette 

 habit. Ihe plant may 

 be quite hairless or 

 hairy, according to 

 situation. Ihe root- 

 stock is stout, with 

 numerous stout fibres, 

 and prostrate. The 

 aerial stem is a scape. 



The leaves are all radical, as in true rosette plants, and lie on the 

 ground, or the inner ones may be erect. They are stalked, inversely 

 egg-shaped to spoon-shaped, tlesh\ , blunt or rounded at the tip, which 

 is scalloped, toothed, with a broad midrib, dark green and frequently 

 glossy. 



The flowerheads are borne on simple, single scapes, with a yellow 

 disk and a white or pink ray. The florets are occasionally all ligulate, 

 or rarely all tubular. The ray florets are numerous in one series, 

 ligulate. The arms of the style are linear, blunt, with a thick border. 

 The disk llorets are tubular, 4-5 toothed, the anther cells sinij)le, the 

 arms of the style short, thick, with papillose cones at the tip. The 

 involucre or whorl of bracts is bell-shaped, the l)racts in i 2 series. 



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