Bellis
(from bellus, pretty; in reference to the flowers). Daisy. ORD. Compositae. A genus of hardy herbaceous perennials, distinguished from allied genera in having conical receptacles and an absence of pappus. They grow well in all loamy soils. The garden varieties are increased by division after flowering, each crown making a separate plant. The soil must be pressed about them moderately firm. Seeds may also be sown in March, but the plants thus obtained are seldom of sufficient floricultural merit to perpetuate.
B. perennis (perennial).* Common Daisy. fl.-heads white. June. l. numerous, lying flat on the ground, obovate, crenate, slightly hairy, tapering at the base. h. 3in. England. The varieties are very numerous, the double ones being particularly fine. The handsome variegated form, aucubaefolia, has its leaves richly stained and veined with yellow. There are both red and white-flowered forms of this variety. The Hen and Chickens Daisy is a proliferous form, rather more quaint than pretty. Good garden kinds are B. p. conspicua, red; CROWN, pink; ELIZA, purple; RUBENS, red; SNOWFLAKE, white. B. rotundifolia coerulescens (round-leaved, bluish).* fl.-heads from 3/4in. to 1 1/4in. in diameter, resembling those of the common Daisy, but with fewer, often broader, ray-flowers, which vary from white to pale blue. l. more or less hairy, with slender stalks, 1in. to 3in. long; blade ovate or sub-cordate, sinuate toothed, three-nerved. Morocco, 1872. A very beautiful perennial, requiring the shelter of a cold frame during severe winters. (B. M. 6015.)