The following is a devout attempt to consecrate this little flower to the highest of uses : "Not worlds on worlds in phalanx deep Need we to prove a God is here; The daisy, fresh from winter's sleep, "For who but He who arched the skies Could rear the daisy's purple bud? "Mould its green cup, its wiry stem; "And fling it, unrestrained and free, O'er hill, and dale, and desert sod, That man, where'er he walks, may see DR. MASON GOOD. Most of the flowers of this family are autumnal, and linger till winter's frost; those latest in the season are less vividly tinted. "These few pale autumn flowers, How beautiful they are! Than all that went before, Than all the summer store, How lovelier far! "And why? They are the last ! The last the last! the last! Oh! by that little word How many thoughts are stirred ; The sister of the past!" The tendency of most flowers, especially of the composite struc ture, to direct their expanded petals upwards to the source of those influences whence they derive their charms, suggests instruction to the reflective Christian. Under the influence of the sun, they direct their corollas, like opened eyes, heavenwards, drooping and closing them when his radiance departs or is obscured. Though of earthly origin, they seem to aim at what is ethereal and spiritual, and to embody in themselves an unearthly excellence. And thus the soul, expanding in holy graces, continually gazes heavenward, influenced by the revealed light of Divine glory, the perfect source of its noblest excellencies, and from which they derive both their pattern and their ever-growing development. DIVISION III. COROLLIFLORE. Part I., chap. 1. § 5 (c). Exogenous plants. Parts of the flower usually in fours or fives, or their multiples. Leaves netted. Perianth double, having calyx and corolla. Corolla monopetalous, petals combined into one. Stamens usually united with the corolla. Corolla and stamens hypogynous, NOT united with the calyx. Ovary superior. The remaining families of this sub-division contain each but few British genera, and are arranged according to the number of II. Flowers irregular, ringent or labiate. Two principal Families, each containing several genera. The Figwort family ... 17. Scrophularineæ. The Labiate family 19. Labiatæ. The remainder contain each but one or two genera. 1. The Heath Family. Ericaceæ. Exogenous. Perianth double. Corolla monopetalous. Corolla and stamens hypogynous. (See page 127.) Calyx and corolla each in 4 or 5 divisions. Stamens 8 or 10, not united with the corolla. Style and stigma 1. Ovary manycelled, many-seeded. Shrubs with ever-green leaves. |