Biology Lesson Poem by Paul Geiger

The
enduring
Shasta daisy—
Easy to grow,
Invasively spreads in the garden.

With little or no encouragement it will take
over whole plots. Standing tall, flaunting a pure white flower; nothing eats it.

Luther Burbank took some fifteen years getting the purest white color he loved by old fashioned genetic engineering of four species.

Look closely at the flower's gorgeous, yellow center. See the perfect whorl. Count the petals. For my flowers I often find thirty four. Could Luther have counted or would he have cared? Fibonacci—biology.