186 SYNGENESIA P. SUPERFLUA. 



254. BELLIS. 



1. B. perennis, root creeping; flower-stalks radical, naked. 

 Common Daisy. 



Hab. " 'Tis Flora's page: in every place, 

 In every season fresh and fair, 

 It opens with perennial grace, 

 And blossoms every where. 



On waste and woodland, rock, and plain, 



Its humble buds unheeded rise; 

 The Rose has but a summer reign, 



The Daisy never dies." 



This little flower has ever been the favourite of poets, a 

 distinction which it seems to merit by the beauty and 

 purity of its blossoms, which, in May particularly, are 

 evolved in such profusion as to whiten the fields, and 

 render the landscape doubly cheerful. 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. Thus DRYDEN, from CHAUCER, in the Vision 

 of the " Flower and the Leaf:" 



" A tuft of Daisies on a flowery lay 

 They saw, and thitherward they bent their way ; 

 To this both knights and dames their homage made, 

 And due obeisance to the Daisy paid. 

 And then the band of flutes began to play, 

 To which a lady sung a virelay : 

 And still at every close she would repeat 

 The burden of the song, * The Daisy is so sweet.' 

 ' The Daisy is so sweet,' when she begun, 

 The troop of knights and dames continued on." 



And thus LEYDEN, in a passage of exquisite beauty : 



" Star of the mead! sweet daughter of the day, 

 Whose opening flower invites the morning ray, 

 From thy moist cheek, and bosom's chilly fold, 

 To kiss the tears of eve, the dew-drops cold ! 

 Sweet Daisy, flower of love ! when birds are paired, 

 'Tis sweet to see thee, with thy bosom bared, 



