A wild blossom under the shade of a pampered potted plant

O thou miserable Patriarchy, how pitiable and painfully exposed you stand! That was 19th century when Charles Dickens wrote Dombey and Son. The successful businessman Mr. Dombey could never see anything beyond himself, his son and the 'and' carrying on the patriarchal lineage of the house, Dombey and Son. The family patriach can hardly see his first born, a girl, growing in the same house. But that was inconsequential to the scheme of Dombey and Son. The young heir dies at the age of 6. It means an end of the cosmos for the distraught father. His world has come to an end. The beautiful 13 year old daughter exists no more than earlier. At funeral Mr Dombey hands over the instruction for the grave tablet. He has written the words to be put on the grave stone. The statuary hands him back the paper he has just read and says to Mr Dombey,
"Will you be so good as read it over again? I think there's a mistake."
"Where?"
The statuary gives him back the paper and points out with his pocket rule, the words, 'Beloved and only child.'
"It should be, 'son', I think, sir?"
"You are right. Of course. Make the correction."
Daughters have been sadly the wild flowers, blooming of their own, by the carefully tended nursery beds where many a decade are spent in nurturing a single male flower.