360 THE RIVER-SIDE NATURALIST. 



" Buttercups and daisies, oh ! the pretty flowers, 

 Coming ere the spring-time, to tell of sunny hours ; 

 While the trees are leafless, while the fields are bare, 

 Buttercups and daisies spring up here and there." 



The BUTTERCUP or UPRIGHT MEADOW CROWFOOT (Ranun- 

 culus acris} Fig. in " English Botany," 33 with its bright 

 golden-yellow shining flowers, is very common. The 

 whole plant is very acrid. Curtis says that even pulling 

 up the plant will at times blister the hands. Sheep and 

 goats will eat it, but cows and horses refuse it. The 

 leaves pounded and used as a poultice will produce vesica- 

 tion. Topically applied, it is supposed to be efficacious in 

 rheumatism, and has been employed as a blister. 



The DAISY (Be/It's perennis) Fig. in " E. B.," 722. The 

 word daisy is a compound of day's and eye day's eye. In 

 Yorkshire it is called Bairnwort, probably from the delight 

 which children take in gathering these flowers. The French 

 call it Marguerite, expressive of beauty, from margarita, a 

 pearl. " The daisy," says Mr. Phillips, " has been made the 

 emblem of innocence, because it contributes more than any 

 other flower to infantile amusement and the joys of childhood. 

 In the days of chivalry it was the emblem of fidelity in 

 love, and was frequently borne at tournaments both by 

 ladies and by knights." This little modest crimson-tipped 

 flower appears ever to have been a general favourite. 

 " Who," says Miss Kent, " can see or hear the name of 

 daisy, the common field daisy, without a thousand plea- 

 surable associations ! It is connected with the sports 

 of childhood and with the pleasures of youth. We walk 

 abroad to seek it, yet it is the emblem of home. It is a 

 favourite with man, woman, and child ; it is the robin of 

 flowers. Turn it all ways and on every side you will find 

 new beauty. You are attracted by the snowy-white leaves 

 (florets of the ray), contrasted by the golden tuft in the 

 centre (florets of the disk), as it rears its head above the 

 green grass; pluck it and you will find it backed by a 

 delicate star of green (involucrum) and tipped with a blush- 

 colour of bright crimson. 



" ' Daisies with their pinky lashes ' 

 are among the first darlings of spring. They are in flower 



