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DAISIES OF ALL 



i»s? DESCRIPTIONS 



This is a discussion of daisies in general and Shasta daisies in par- 

 ticular. If any reader, being in an intensely practical mood, is not inter- 

 ested in the first part of the article, he may find something unquestionably 

 helpful in the cultural suggestions offered in the last few paragraphs. 



m--^^^^ 



the emperice 

 But in regard 



N EEGAED to the literal 

 meaning of the name 

 daisy — the meaning as ex- 

 pressed merely by the let- 

 ters of the word — there is 

 not much doubt. Daisy is 

 just another way of writ- 

 ing day's eye, and early 

 English literature shows 

 the many changes through 

 which the word passed before assuming 

 its present form. Chaucer, the genial 

 old genius who is styled "the father of 

 English poetry, ' ' told of ' ' the dayesye 

 or elles the eye of day, 

 and flour of flours alle. " 

 to a much more impor- 

 tant point — the classes 

 of flowers that are 

 meant or signified by the 

 word — there is plenty of 

 room for uncertainty 

 and confusion. The name 

 daisy, either alone or 

 combined with some 

 qualifying word, may 

 mean any one of many 

 different flowers, of sev- 

 eral distinct genera. 



Most frequently, no 

 doubt, the daisy re- 

 ferred to is either Bellis 

 perennis or C h r y s a n- 

 themum Leucanthemum. 



The "True" Daisy. 



Bellis perennis, called 

 in England simply the 

 daisy, is commonly desig- 

 nated in America as the 

 English daisy. Chrysan- 

 themum Leucanthemum, 

 popularly called in 

 America the daisy or 

 whiteweed, is known in 

 England as the Amer- 

 ican or oxeye daisy. As 

 far as priority of claim 

 is concerned, Bellis per- 

 ennis, the English flower, 

 has the much better 

 right to be considered 

 distinctively the daisy. 

 As already intimated, 

 Chaucer wrote of the 

 dacges-eage, dayesye, 

 day's eye or daisy — 

 without any worries 

 about the spelling — a 

 century or so before 

 Columbus discovered 

 America. Hence botan- 

 ists distinguish Bellis 

 perennis as the "true" 

 daisy. But public cus- 

 tom is not largely con- 



trolled by the botanical dictionaries. 

 It seems that almost every nation, 

 "every kindred, every tribe" has its 

 own daisy or daisies, and continues per- 

 sistently to apply the name to the na- 

 tive product. In many instances these 

 flowers are known in their native re- 

 gions merely as daisies, no matter what 

 words of distinction are added to the 

 name in other districts of the world. 



Daisies of Many Districts. 



Let us call to mind, just at random, 

 a few of the flowers that are classed in 

 different localities as daisies, besides the 

 American and Emrlish daisies, already 



Alaska, One of the Most Popular of the Shasta Daisies. 



mentioned. Gerbera Jamesonii, the 

 Transvaal daisy or scarlet marguerite, 

 lias been gaining increased prominence 

 of late. Another native of South Africa 

 is Lonas inodora, called the African 

 daisy, but perhaps best known in the 

 trade as Athanasia annua. In Austra- 

 lia, Brachycome iberidifolia is termed 

 the Swan river daisy; Vittadinia aus- 

 tralis is also there called the daisy. The 

 native daisy of New Zealand is Lagen- 

 ophora Forsteri. New Zealand also has 

 a "daisy bush," Olearia Haastii, with 

 daisy-like heads of white flowers. 



Erigeron aurantiacus, sold as the 

 double orange daisy, is from Turkestan. 

 Chrysanthemum uligino- 

 sum, or Pyrethrum uligi- 

 nosum, is the giant 

 daisy and came origi- 

 nally from Hungary. 

 Layia glandulosa, called 

 the white daisy, is culti- 

 vated considerably in 

 California and is greatly 

 prized on account of its 

 pure white rays. Town- 

 sendia exscapa is known 

 in Colorado as the 

 Easter daisy. Eud- 

 beckia hirta is the 

 black-eyed Susan or yel- 

 low daisy. The name 

 Michaelmas daisy is ap- 

 plied in England to va- 

 rious species of aster 

 that bloom about Mich- 

 aelmas, September 29. 



The Turfing Daisy. 



Chrysanthemum Tchi- 

 liatchewii — say it, please 

 — is commonly called the 

 turfing daisy. It is com- 

 monly so called for two 

 manifest reasons — • be- 

 cause the plant is be- 

 lieved to be especially 

 suitable for turfing or 

 carpeting dry, waste 

 places, and also because 

 the botanical name is 

 so weird and sneeze like 

 and formidable a mouth- 

 ful. 



But let us call a halt 

 in the enumeration, un- 

 less tlie readers, still un- 

 wearied, wish to add a 

 few more daisies to the 

 list. 



By the way, some of 

 the daisies, having been 

 familiarly known for 

 a number of genera- 

 tions, have accumulated 



