COMPOUND FLOWEES 187 



her brother his Marguerite of Marguerites, his pearl of peai'ls. James I. 

 wore the thistle and the rose surmounted with a crown ; and Camden says of 

 Queen Elizabeth, that she bore so many as would fill a volume. Louis IX. 

 of France took for a device on his ring a Daisy and a lily, in allusion to the 

 name of his queen and. to the arms of France, to which he added a sapphire, 

 on which a crucifix was engraved, surrounded with this motto, HnvH cet annvcl, 

 pourrions-noiis irourer Varnour ? because, as this monarch said, it was the emlilcm 

 of all that was dearest to his heart, Religion, France, and his wife. 



The French still commonly call the Daisy Marguerite, though La paquerette 

 is also a familiar name for the flower. In their fields it grows as freely as in 

 ours ; but no skill can make the Daisy thrive in lands between the tropics. 

 In Germany, where it spangles the green meads in abundance, it is called 

 Giinseblume, in Holland Madeheven ; the Italians term it Margheritina, the 

 Spaniards Maya ; and the Russians call our lowly flower by the long name of 

 Barclmtnaja Zwiefoschka. It is not common in Greece, hence we have no 

 Greek name for it, but it is well known in Italy ; and the Latins named 

 it Bellis, some suppose from the adjective hellus, pretty, or, according to 

 others, BelHs d hello, because fitted to heal the wounds made in war. Pliny 

 tells us that it was in his day commonly applied, with one of the wormwoods, 

 in the form of a cataplasm. Professor Burnett considers that the plant has 

 astringent properties, and hence may not have been altogether useless as a 

 vulnerary. An old English herbalist says, " The greater wild Daisie is a wound- 

 herb of great respect, often used in those drinkes and salves that are for 

 wounds, inward or outward." This remark, however, relates to the large 

 Ox-eye Daisy, but he praises, also, the juice or distilled water of the common 

 Daisy, and says it is fitting to be kept for wounds in oils, ointments, and 

 plaisters, as also in syrup. He tells us that it cures " hurts and bruises that 

 come of falls or blows," and adds that the juice dropped into weak eyes doth 

 much help them ; but we should be sorry to recommend the use of so acrid 

 an herb to an organ so delicate. An author, writing in 1696, tells us that 

 they who wish to have pleasant dreams of the loved and absent, should " put 

 dazy roots under their pillow ; " and the root, worn about the person, seems 

 also to have been deemed a remedy for some maladies, so that one is reminded 

 of the words of Chaucer — 



' ' To other woundes, and to broken armes, 

 Some hadden salves, and some hadden charmes." 



It is said that persons Avho wish to prevent the growth of their young lap- 

 dogs give them the Daisy roots boiled in milk. 



The Daisy is most pretty when its ray is tipped with crimson. This hue 

 is found almost entirely on the plants exposed to the full glare of the siin- 

 shine, and seems to disappear altogether when they grow beneath the shade 

 of trees, of the wood or hedgerow. Notwithstanding our partiality for the 

 flower, it must be admitted that it is a troublesome plant to the owner of the 

 green meadow, spreading rapidly by its roots, and at the same time 

 multiplying quickly by seed, while the leaves, pressing closely over the turf, 

 check all other vegetation. The slightly acrid flavour of the Daisy renders 

 it unpleasing to animals feeding on the pasture. 



