222 COMPOSITE FAMILY 



leaves two to six inches long, and tiny greenish white 

 flowering-heads nodding in leafy racemes from the upper 

 leaf-axils, grows in the borders of salt marshes. The 

 shrubby /. imhricata, one to two feet high, has scented 

 foliage of narrow, entire or nearly entire, thick leaves, one 

 to two inches long, tiny, axillary, drooping heads, and grows 

 in sand along the coast. 



COMPOSITE FAMILY (Compositae (Cardmceae)) 



Flowers small, crowded in heads that may appear like solitary 

 flowers — such as asters, dandelions, and thistles. 



Though other families of plants may be of more service 

 to man, few others appear more successful in multiplying 

 and possessing the earth. 



Such cultivated plants as dkhlias, chrysanthemums, 

 marigolds, asters, zinnias, Transvaal daisies, cosmos, sun- 

 flowers, gaillardias, coreopsis, and ageratum, are all of this 

 household. The purple and gold of our autumn wild flow- 

 ers are due chiefly to the many native composites. From 

 this family the kitchen-garden has lettuce, endive, salsify, 

 and artichokes. And among weeds the success of the 

 composites is shown only too well by Spanish needles 

 and other species. 



The success of this vast family has not been gained by 

 ripening many seeds from each flower, but by crowding 

 many flowers together and ripening one seed from each. 

 Typical "flowers'' of composites are formed of many small 

 flowers pressed closely together in a flowering-head that 

 is surrounded by an involucre of several or many bracts. 

 The calyx of the individual flower, when present, is repre- 

 sented by bristles, hairs, awns, or scales, called the pappus, 

 which crowns the one-seeded fruit (an achene) and aids 

 in its dispersal. 



A benefit gained by this crowding is that cross-polli- 



