FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS 55 



to us all, such as the Anemone, the Hepatica, the 

 Larkspur. 



In some respects the Poppy Order or Family, 1 comes 

 rather near to it. Many of the plants in this Order 

 also manufacture fruits unwholesome and even hurtful 

 in kind. From the Poppy itself comes that stupefying 

 and deadening Opium, which works such terrible harm 

 in Eastern countries. 



A Poppy flower has many stamens, but only two 

 sepals and four petals. Its pistils are joined together, 

 and do not grow separately, as with a Buttercup. Its 

 juice is often milky in character. 



Now let us turn to one of our oldest and commonest 

 and dearest little friends, the Daisy, beginning with 

 what a poet of to-day has said about it 



" I know why the Daisy is white, my dear, I know why the skies 



are blue; 

 I know that the world is a dream, my dear, and I know that 



the dream is true ; 

 I know why the Rose and the Toadstool grow, as a curse and 



a crimson boon 

 Hey ! diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over 



the Moon" 2 



With which unexpected ending we will take a Daisy 

 in hand and examine it. 



The golden centre is there, which we often call the 

 Daisy's " eye," because with it the flower seems to 

 gaze so cheerfully upward. And around this golden 

 centre which you might take for a mass of stamens 

 are pure white rays, or white rays tipped with crimson, 



1 Order, PAPAVERACEJE. 2 Alfred Noyes. 



