86 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



find how little of the biography, the life-history, or even 

 the name of some of our very common plants is known to 

 many whose thoughts do not happen to have been directed 

 in that channel, and who, nevertheless, have a very real 

 and lively appreciation of the charms of these wildlings, 

 and who have something of the apologetic feeling expressed 

 by Wordsworth in his ode to the smaller celandine : 



" I have seen thee, high and low, 

 Thirty years or more, and yet 

 'Twas a face I did not know." 



In the hope, then, that to a portion of our readers, at 

 least, our remarks may have some little interest, we take 

 courage anew. 



The ox-eye daisy is one of the commonest of flowers 

 in dry pasture-land ; and it may also be seen in rich pro- 

 fusion on the sloping banks of our" railways, covering large 

 surfaces with a sheet of white. The flowers are so large 

 and brilliantly white, while the foliage is so scanty, that 

 at a very short distance the mass of white blossoms is 

 alone distinguishable. The plant is a perennial, it is of 

 little or no value as fodder, and it is an indication of poor 

 soil features that tend to make the agriculturist regard it 

 with no favouring eye. It is said in some works that the 

 leaves are useful as a salad. This, however, appears almost 

 like adding insult to injury. The leaves are so small, as 

 our illustration shows, that we can hardly imagine any one 

 taking the trouble to collect any quantity of them for this 

 object, especially as a person who has so far got over the 

 prejudice of eating such wild herbs would find many others 

 considerablv better adapted to their purposes than this. 

 The flowers of the ox-eye enliven the meadows as the 

 grass is growing for the hay-crop ; and any one desirous 



