244 
HABITS AND LATIN NAMES OF BRITISH PLANTS, 
The use of the petals, which form a ray round these little yellow florets, is to 
secure them from the effects of inclement weather, until the pollen of the anthers 
is discharged on the stigmas, so as to prepare seed for future plants ; and when 
this part of the economy of Nature is performed, the ray of the Daisy remains 
expanded, and does not 
“ Shut when Titan goes to bed,” 
but continues open until the petals decay. 
Transplanting to richer soil, and cultivation (by transforming the yellow florets 
into petals so as entirely to exclude the disk), produce the double Daisy, varying 
in colour from white to crimson. Hence also arises the very curious Proliferous, 
or Hen-and-Chickens Daisy, which exhibits a number of smaller flowers, sur¬ 
rounding, but not completely detached by their own stalks, from the principal 
centre one. They are sometimes used as an edging to borders, but are subject to 
partial decay from drought and too much exposure to a hot sun. The English 
name is a compound of days and eye , Days-eye. In Yorkshire it is called 
Bairnwort, probably from the delight which children take in gathering these 
flowers. The French call it Marguerite , the name of a woman, expressive of 
beauty, from margarita , a pearl. 
Berberis .—From Berbery s, the Arabic name of the fruit. 
Berberis vulgaris , Common Barberry or Pipperidge-bush.—In searching for the 
nectaries at the base of the petals when the flower is fully expanded, if the 
filaments be ever so slightly touched, the anthers immediately approach the 
summit and burst with an explosion. When the anthers are thoroughly ripe, if 
the base of the filaments be irritated with a pin, or a straw, the stamen rises with 
a sudden spring, and strikes the anther against the summit of the pistil, affording 
a remarkable instance of one of the means used to perform the important office 
of impregnation. If it could happen that during the season of bloom the flowers 
were to remain uninfluenced by adventitious stimulus, the stamens would con¬ 
tinue extended at their wonted distance from the pistil, and no fecundation could 
take place. But let us see the means adopted by Divine Wisdom for insuring the 
fecundation of this useful vegetable. Each petal has near its base two oblong 
melliferous glands. Between every two of these glands a stamen is placed, so 
that whenever an insect attempts to extract the honey exuded by the glands, it 
must touch, especially the lower and most irritable part of the filament, upon 
which this organ immediately springs up, and proceeds to cover with its prolific 
dust the upper part of the pistil. 
The astringent principle is so abundant in the bark of this plant, that it is used 
in Poland to tan leather. The acid present in the Barberry is the oxalic, and 
it renders the berries so sour that birds will not eat them; but boiled with sugar 
they form a most agreeable jelly. A very refreshing drink, which is considered 
