Daisy

From Encyclopediak

Daisy, Da zy, a name given to a great number of plants of the Composite Family and also to a few daisylike plants of other families. There are at least 25 species known in this hemisphere, two of which are natives of the United States. The true daisy bellis pcrennis is a low herb with undivided or cut-margined leaves. The blossom is a flattened head of yellow flowers surrounded by white, purple or crimson-tipped rays. It has been variously called English, European, dicky, or dog, daisy, and also marguerite in France and gowan in Scotland. The most common daisy is a member of an allied genus, the chrysanthemum. This daisy spreads so rapidly that it has become a great pest to farmers. It blooms all through the spring and summer and colors meadows and fields with white and gold. The flowers, which are heads with yellow centers and wliite rays, have long, leafy stems and much-divided leaves. This daisy also has a variety of names whiteweed, ox-eye daisy, great daisy, poor-land daisy, white daisy, farmer's pest, marguerite, etc. It is the state flower of Tennessee. Other so-called daisies are the tall buttercup of the Crowfoot, or Buttercup Family, and the sea daisy, or marsh, rosemary, of the Leadwort Family. Daisies take readily to cultivation and are exceedingly good for decoration from their artistic simplicity of form and their good lasting qualities. The Shasta daisy is a semidouble, greenhouse variety produced by Burbank.