THE DAISY. 
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which we shall speak presently, have access to these stigmas, 
and so fructify the seed contained in the inferior fruit at their 
base. The whole body of the style is covered with delicate hairs. 
In the interior of the tissue of the style may be distinctly traced 
two or more spiral vessels, which are evidently continuous with 
those observed in the ribs of the leaves and in the flower- stalks. 
Before speaking of the tubular flowers, we would draw 
attention to the fact that both the bracts and ligulate flowers 
move under the influence of the stimulus of hght. In the 
evening these parts contract, and the whole head of flowers is 
“ shut up,” in order apparently to secure to the tubular flowers 
a night’s repose. But, under the light of the nest morning’s 
sun, the bracts and ligulate flowers spread themselves out to 
the fullest extent, so as to allow all access to the beneficent rays 
of the sun. This movement of the parts of plants under the 
influence of the sun’s light is very general, and is even more 
marked in some other compositous plants than in the daisy. 
Every one is familiar with the fact of the sunflower turning its 
noble head of flowers towards the east at the rising of the sun, 
and closes its large bracts over its tubular flowers whilst nodding 
to it in the evening towards the west. 
The yellow tubular flowers forming the centre portion of the 
daisy appear at first sight similar to the stamens of other plants, 
and to the casual observer would pass as such (fig. 8). Viewed 
under the microscope they are individually a perfect flower ; 
each one of these little yellow bodies contains in itself all the 
organs of the perfect flower. The edges of the five yellow petals 
unite to form a monopetalous corolla around the five stamens 
which enclose the pistil. These stamens having very short fila- 
ments, are united together by them anthers (fig. 10), which are 
twice as long as the filaments, and form beautiful objects under 
the microscope. Usually, in examining the anthers of plants 
we find the pollen generally diffused in irregular masses in the 
interior of the valves or anther-cases, of which most plants have 
two ; but in the case of the daisy, the pollen is found lying 
in two regular even rows in the cavity of the valve (fig. 11). 
At the time of shedding the pollen, the valve which encloses 
this row of bead-like bodies bursts by a longitudinal slit, and 
allows their escape on to the pistil in the centre or on to the 
pistil of the ligulate flowers surrounding them. Under the 
microscope the inner layers of the valve of the anther are found 
to be composed of fibro-cellular tissue (fig. 13). 
Each pollen grain is round, and covered with minute spines, 
and forms a beautiful object under the microscope (fig. 12). 
The pistil which rises in the centre of the flower has an 
elongated style in which are discernible the spiral vessels that 
exist more or less in the whole tissue of the plant. The 
