THE DAFFODIL 



familiar instances ; and in the Comfrey (Symphy- 

 tum officinale) we have an example of a tubular 

 corolla with five similar scales, which; however, 

 have not united. 



Probably, then, the crown of the daffodil 

 originated from a lost ancestor whose petals had 

 similar ligules to those of the lychnis and the 

 campion of to-day. Indeed, these members of the 

 Pink family are probably now evolving a flower 

 similar in arrangement to that of the daffodil. 

 Their calyx lobes have in many genera already 

 united, and the petals (although now free) are 

 arranged so closely together within the calyx tube 

 that they almost form a tube like that of the 

 common primrose, and they bear similar spreading 

 petals around its mouth. At the entrance to the 

 tube the ligules form a little crown. Nevertheless, 

 we should remember that the pinks belong to the 

 group of dicotyledons, and the daffodils to the 

 monocotyledons, and therefore, the plants are 

 quite unrelated. Nature, however, often adapts 

 features and devices that have proved successful 

 in one group of organisms to entirely different 

 groups ; but I shall have more to say on this point 

 in Chapter XVII. 



171 



