DAISIES AND EVERLASTINGS. 
53 
For I maun crush amang the stoure 
Thy slender stem; 
To spare thee now is past my power, 
Thou bonnie gem.” 
Our daisies are known to botanists as Brachycome; 
only one species has been brought into commerce as a 
garden flower, and that comes from Western Austra- 
lia. It is catalogued in seedsmen’s lists as the Swan 
River Daisy. 
Several Victorian species of Brachycome would 
make dainty and useful garden plants. It would 
only be necessary to collect the seed from the old 
flower heads, and plant it, when it would germinate 
readily. Brachycome diversifoUa, a fairly tall 
white-flowered species; Brachycome multifida, a low 
plant with heliotrope flowers, and Brachycome 
graminea, similarly coloured to the former species 
are common in all parts, and would grow in any 
garden and give satisfaction. 
One uncommon plant of the daisy family grows in 
the Grampians and in the humid valleys of Gipps- 
land. It is known as Humea elegans, and unless 
botanically examined it would never occur to any- 
one to class it in the daisy family. There are 
only three or four florets in each headlet and these are 
very small. The plant is usually called the tobacco 
plant, from the large pungently-scented leaves, which 
are similar to those of the tobacco. The plant is a 
biennial, that is, it has a life of only two years. Bien- 
nial plants generally take the first year or season to 
produce their growth, flowering in the second season, 
and then dying off after the seeding time. When 
