Along the roadsides, in the month of May, grows a flower which you children call a blue daisy. This has the yellow center of the field daisy; but the narrow outer flowers which surround the yellow center are not white, they are blue.
Fig. 269
The real name of this flower is “robin’s plantain.” It is not a daisy, though it belongs to the same big family. Here, too, the yellow center is made up of many little tube-shaped flowers.
Later in the year the fields are white and purple with beautiful asters (Fig. [269]). It is easy to see that these asters are own cousins to robin’s plantain. Their flower heads are put together in the same way, and many of the asters wear the same blue or purple dress (Fig. [269]).
Fig. 270
When once you have become acquainted with the secret of dandelion and daisy and aster and robin’s plantain, you will find it quite easy to discover their little separate flowers. All these plants have large, plain flower heads that you cannot mistake.
But with some members of this great Composite family you are going to have more trouble, unless you take your time and keep your wits about you.
