COMPOUND FLOWERS. 23 



the Dandelion, Succory (or Blue weed), Lettuce, 

 Sowthistle, and others. These plants, so naturally- 

 allied to each other, have nearly all the same physical 

 properties ; several of them are eatable as salads, 

 though they all possess, at one period or other, a de- 

 gree of bitterness, and a milky sap of the nature of 

 opium. 



The second section comprehends the flosculous 

 flowers, or such as are composed solely of the tubular 

 florets, and are, like the preceding flowers, of an uni- 

 form color ; such are those of Thistles, the Burdock, 

 the Artichoke, Wormwood, and Uatris. 



In the third general section, the flowers are com- 

 posed of botli kinds of florets ; the centre or disc, 

 which is often yellow (as in the White-weed, or Ox- 

 eye Daisy), consisting of tubular florets, while the 

 circumference or ray is formed of flat florets generally 

 of a different color from the disc. These have been 

 called radiate fioxvers. The radial florets are gener- 

 ally provided with the style and stigma, but destitute 

 of anthers. In some flowers, as the Sunflower, the 

 rays are entirely barren or destitute of the style ; 

 while, on the contrary, in the Marygold, the florets of 

 the disc are abortive, and the flat rays only afford the 

 perfect seed ; hence, from this comparative degree of 

 perfection, has Linnaeus divided the radiate flowers 

 into different orders of his class Syngenesia. 



The general point or place where the florets are 

 seated in a compound flower is called the receptacle, 

 and it usually presents little pits like the summit of a 

 honeycomb ; though commonly naked, sometimes this 

 receptacle presents hairs or scales, which are inter- 

 posed between the florets. The calyx generally con- 

 sists of a number of divisions or leaflets, either spread- 

 ing out erect, or closely laid over each other, or im- 

 bricated. In the Dandelion these leaves are in a 



