The Daisy's Pedigree. 39 



coloured rays. If you examine the rays closely, you 

 will see that each of them is a separate little flower, 

 with the stamens suppressed, and with the bell- 

 shaped corolla flattened out into a long and narrow 

 ribbon. Even these very abnormal corollas, how- 

 ever, still retain a last trace of the five original dis- 

 tinct petals ; for their edge is slightly notched with 

 five extremely minute lobes, often nearly obliterated, 

 but sometimes quite marked, and almost always more 

 or less noticeable on a careful examination. A daisy 

 thus consists of a whole head of tiny tubular bells, 

 the inner ones normal and regular, with corolla, 

 stamens, and pistil, and the outer ones flattened or 

 ligulate, with the stamens wanting, and the entire 

 floret simply devoted to increasing the attractiveness 

 of the compound mass. Pull off the rays, and you 

 will see at once what an inconspicuous flower the 

 daisy would be without them. 



Last of all, the question arises. Why are the outer 

 florets or rays pink and white, while the inner florets 

 or bells are golden yellow ? When we have solved 

 that solitary remaining problem, we shall have settled 

 the chief points in the daisy's pedigree. Clearly, 

 when the rays were first produced, they must have 

 been yellow like the central florets. The mere 

 flattening and lengthening of the corolla would not 



