LIFE HISTORIES OF FAMILIAR PLANTS 



to all such plants — that is, to plants that bear 

 daisy-like blossoms. 



Doubtless, the secret of the daisy tribe's suc- 

 cess is the daisy-like form of its inflorescence. I 

 say '^ inflorescence " and not " flowers " advisedly, 

 because I purpose now to show that a daisy is not 

 a flower. It is, however, a most extraordinary 

 simulation of one. You will understand better 

 what I mean if you will take the trouble to 

 pull to pieces the next buttercup, dog-rose, or 

 bramble flower you happen to meet with. Out- 

 side the coloured petals of these flowers you will 

 find (i) some protective green leaf-like sepals ; 

 (2) inside the petals numerous stalked stamens 

 which produce the fertilising dust known as 

 pollen, and (3) a central part occupied with the 

 carpels, or ovaries, in which the seeds are matured 

 after the fertilising pollen from the stamens has 

 reached them. 



Now dissect in a similar manner a camomile, 

 or some other daisy-like bloom, and you will 

 soon discover that things are very differently 

 arranged there. The green ^^ sepals " of these 

 ^' flowers " are numerous and closely packed 

 around the base of what seem like petals (what 

 they are we shall learn later), but then comes a 

 rounded central mass of tiny objects which we 

 see are quite unlike the stamens and ovaries of 

 the buttercup or bramble flower. Hence, al- 

 though the camomile daisy appears to resemble 

 other flowers, if we try to compare it with, say, 

 a buttercup, or, in fact, any ordinary single flower, 



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