IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Hokitika Guardian, 20 December 1930, Page 6

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

THE DAISY IS FLOWER OF FLOWERS. By •). Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S. Daisied fields, pastures, hills, readsides, and meadows are so common, in this Dominion that Dr F. W? Hilgendorf hardly could have omitted this very English flower from ‘‘The Weeds of New Zealand,” even if he wished to do so. At the same time, it is distressing to regard as a weed—a serious one, Dr Hilgendorf states—a flower that some of the greatest writers of English' have praised for its comeliness arid beauty; land, one and they have failed to do it justice. One of the masters,. Chaucer no-dess, deplored the '.fact t-liat it was not in Ills power to praise aright the day’seye, to him the flower of flowers, emblem of virtue and honour, always fresh and fair, in winter as well as in summer, for it blooms almost all the vear round.

Ho admired it for its beauty and purity."' To more prosaic people of those ancient days it had in its golden heart the image of the sun, and it healed wounds, restored life, and gave health and happiness to rill who sought its help. Three hundred years ago an army physician, in a work on medicine, wrote three pages of warm praise of the daisy’s virtues. He said that its praises should be inscribed on every gate and every door. Froissart credits it with cooling, moistening, and healing powers, which eased sore eyes, stopped bleeding noses, and restored broken limbs, Heads, and hearts.

Where Chaucer felt that, he failed it would be an impertinence for an ordinary person to make fin attempt. It may be an impertinence also ’o put Chaucer’s poetry into prose and to modernise his English. The excuse is that in New Zealand the daisy should not bear the opprobrium of a weed, but should be seen through Chaucer’s eyes, as disclosed in the prologue to “The Legend of Good Women.” The virtues of nine good women are symbolised by the daisy. Chaucer delighted in books, held them in reverence, and gave credence to approved stories of holiness, victories, love, hate, and sundry other things, but in the jolly month of May, when lie heard the small birds sing, and when the daisies began to bloom, then “farewell my studie,” and the books were thrown aside for the season. There was no May dawn when he was not up and walking in the meadows to watch the opening to the sun of the flowers he' loved best, “theue flowers white and red, such as men callen daysr.es in our ’tpun.” The blissful sight softened Ins sorrows/-He was glad to do all manner of reverence to the flower that lie loved deeply. He swore lid always would love it till his heart died; and “no wight loved hotter in his life.” To sec the daisy’s face spread in -the brightness of the rising sun, he knelt on the soft, sweet grass. He would like to have dwelt there day by day all through the May month, without sleep, food, or drink. Sinking down, lie lay on his elbow and side t better to look upon 4he flower that he considered well called the day’s-eye, or eye of day, emuress and flower of flowons all,. When the- sun went towards the west, and the daisies began to shut their eyes and to prepare for the darkness of night, which they dread ed, ho sped .home to seek his own rest, in order that he might rise early to see them welcome the sun again. He had his couch made in a little arbour near the daisied meadow, his bed strewn with flowers. In an imaginary. dream lie knelt amongst the daisies. He saw in the meadow the god of love, leading the queen of lo'ye by the hand. She was clad in a regal robe of green, wore a white crown, and was womanly, benign, and meek, in all respects like the daisy, which sho impersonated, and before which her Fadies-bi-wainting—“ladies nvnteeno”—knelt while they sail" its praises..

lif the daisy must he a weed in New Zealand, it is one of about 400 weeds sent from the Old Country to harass farmers. It is perennial and perennials include some of the worst weeds in the Dominion, spreading through gardens, ploughed fields, and permanent grasslands. Dr Hilgendorf states that the daisy has a perennial Creeping rootstock. As its stem never rises above the ground, the leaves form a close mat. It is a serious weed because it prevents the growth of much grass. 111 some places it formspure plant association, in which no other species of plant grows. 111 this formation, probably it beautified Chaucer’s meadow.

Its original home is Europe and Asia ■Minor. Willi us, it bears the homely old Anglo-Saxon name, day’s-eye, the flower that opens ,its eyes at daylight. In the plants’ ‘‘Who’s Who” it lias the title the great Linnaeus gave,it, Beilis perennis, the beautiful perennial. Its family, the Composite, is the largest family of flowering plants, the most widely distributed, and the most successful in world rivalry and in the grim and silent war for dominance. Almost K) per per cent, of flowering plants belong to this vast family, which stands at the head of the vegetable kingdom, sending its members to every part of the enflowered earth, equally at home on the Equator .and, in Polar regions, in lowlands, and in mountains and alpine situations. Afore than one-seventh of New Zealand’*! flowering plants are members of the family. Amongst them are the New Zealand Edelweiss, the olearias, the

,oelnilsias—mown t a i ll daisies—and tlie vegetable sheep. To these should be added more than 60 weedy members or the family that have found New Zealand a suitable abode. In these ranks are the Bathurst burr, the yarrow, the camomile, the tansy, the wormwood, the groundsel, the ragwort the Capeweed, the burdocks,/ the California thistle, the Scotch thistle, the knapweed, the chicory, the cat’s-ear, the oxeye daisy, and the tarweed. The artichoke and the lettuce grow i n the vegetable gardens. in the flower gardens are chrysanthemums, dahlias, cinerarias, asters, sunflowers, zinnias, and marigolds all very beautiful; but most members -.of the famiyl are unattractive, and many are undesirable eonomically, and create difficult problems for farmers to wrestle with. The most dreaded member of the family in New Zealand is the Californian thistle. When a weed census was taken, New Zealand was divided into 14 districts. In no fewer than 12 of these the Californian thistle was set down as one of the worst weeds. Its popular name does an injustice, to California.- It is a native of Europe, and is very plentiful in England,!'France, and Belgium. . Like other weeds, it. probably came here 'front the Okl Country, surreptitiously, without invitation. One of the hardy perennials, its stems creep "”derground, sending roots down' wards and leafy shoots upwards, its purple flowers are pretty enough in themselves. Dr Hilgendort states that all the flowers are on a single plant are either male or female, but two plants often are mixed together by their underground stems, and the male and female flowers are .often intermixed. ,In that case, there i-s. fertile seed in pfor fusion. If there are only female flowers, down is produced, but fertile seed is ’attached to it: If there are only male flowers, there is not even down. Very elaborate schemes have been drawn up to control this family connection of the daisy, but still it thrives and spreads, and makes a nuisance of itself. Its closer connection, the Scotch thistle, sometimes called the spear, thistle, is a biennial, is very plentiful, and once threatened to over-run almost all agricultural land in the Dominion, but is losing its grip and is less feared than' it was some 20 years ago. The corn-sow-thistle, or creeping sowthistle is a native c'f Asia and Africa, that has taken a hold in cultivated fields near Auckland city, and in the Manawatu, Canterbury, and Southland. A native the prickly sow-thistle, rauriki, may not be truly native, but it has been in New Zealand for. a long time,, and ranks as a native weed. It may bo troublesome, in some crops. ,