The Shasta Daisy 
Chrysanthetnum hyhridum 
By GEORGIA TORREY DRENNAN 
A n unusually free-flowering perennial plant. 
The ray-flowers, pure white with yellow 
centers, average four inches across, and are 
profuse from April or May till late in autumn. 
d'he Shasta daisy is one of the triumphs of Santa 
Rosa. Mr. Burbank regards it as one of his greatest 
achievements. As a boy he had a chivalrous ad¬ 
miration for our common wild daisy (whiteweed or 
ox-eye daisy), Chrysanthejvutn leiicanthemum vulgare. 
Regarded as an adversary to the soil and an aggres¬ 
sive foe to crops and useful plants, by strenuous 
efforts the farmers exterminated it in one place hut 
to see it reappear in a dozen surrounding parts; it 
never knew when it was whipped. 
Mr. Burbank, early in life, decided the pretty 
blossoms and the iron-clad constitution of this cos¬ 
mopolitan weed, to be admirable. He selected this 
native American species, in combination with the 
coarser, larger English wild daisy, and a tall growing 
one that Japan produced to begin the hybridization 
which has resulted in the Shasta daisy. Years of 
effort were required till among thousands there ap¬ 
peared one daisy exceeding them all in size, beauty 
and general refinement, withal hardy enough to grow 
within the arctic circle or under the equator. This 
is not surprising when the true nature of the wild 
daisy is considered. The leaves in rosette form lie 
close and flat to the earth, crowding and shading 
out of existence hardy grasses and weeds, and are de¬ 
structive to cultivated plants. A heavy seed bearer 
and growing upon creeping root stock it spreads 
inveterately. 
Entire fields, and extensive acreages, in many parts 
have been taken possession of by the ox-eye daisy, 
the farmers preferring to clear new ground rather 
than contend with a plant that profits by the culture 
given the crops planted in the ground it infests. 
In Canada the fields of ox-eye or wild daisy are 
A BED OF SHASTA DAISIES AT SANTA ROSA, CAL., GROWN BY MR. LUTHER BURBANK 
M 4 
