er on they were dedicated to St. Margaret of Cortona. Therefore
they were reputed good for the special-illnesses of females. It is
remarkable there is no [146] Greek word for this plant, or flower.
Ossian the Gaelic poet feigns that the Daisy, whose white
investments figure innocence, was first "sown above a baby's
grave by the dimpled hands of infantine angels."

During mediaeval times the Daisy was worn by knights at a
tournament as an emblem of fidelity. In his poem the _Flower and
the Leaf_, Chaucer, who was ever loud in his praises of the "Eye
of Day"--"empresse and floure of floures all," thus pursues his
theme:--

"And at the laste there began anon
A lady for to sing right womanly
A bargaret in praising the Daisie:
For--as methought among her notes sweet,
She said, '_Si doucet est la Margarete_.'"

The French name _Marguerite _is derived from a supposed resemblance
of the Daisy to a pearl; and in Germany this flower is known
as the Meadow Pearl. Likewise the Greek word for a pearl is
_Margaritos_.

A saying goes that it is not Spring until a person can put his foot
on twelve of these flowers. In the cultivated red Daisies used for
bordering our gardens, the yellow central boss of each compound
flower has given place to strap-shaped florets like the outer rays,
and without pollen, so that the entire flower consists of this purple
inflorescence. But such aristocratic culture has made the blossom
unproductive of seed. Like many a proud and belted Earl, each of
the pampered and richly coloured Daisies pays the penalty of its
privileged luxuriance by a disability from perpetuating its species.

The Moon Daisy, or Oxeye Daisy (_Leucanthemum Orysanthemum_),
St. John's flower, belonging to the same tribe of plants,
grows commonly with an erect stem about two feet high, in
dry pastures and roads, bearing large solitary flowers which are
balsamic and make a [147] useful infusion for relieving chronic
coughs, and for bronchial catarrhs. Boiled with some of the leaves
and stalks they form, if sweetened with honey, or barley sugar, an
excellent posset drink for the same purpose. In America the root is
employed successfully for checking the night sweats of pulmonary
consumption, a fluid extract thereof being made for this object, the
dose of which is from fifteen to sixty drops in water.

The Moon Daisy is named Maudlin-wort from St. Mary Magdalene,
and bears its lunar name from the Grecian goddes