195 



young leaves of the species of Valerianella are eaten as salad, under the 

 French name of Mache, or the English one of Lamb's Lettuce. Red Valerian 

 is also eaten in the same way in Sicily. Dec. 

 Examples. Valeriana, Valerianella, Patrinia. 



CLXXXVI. COMPOSITE. 



CouposiTiE, Adans. Fam. 2. 103. (1763); Kunth in Humb. N. G. et Sp. vol.4. (1820); Lindl. 

 Synops. 140. (1829).— Synantherej:, Rich. Anal. (1808); Cassini Diet. Sc. N. 10. 131. 

 (1818); ibid. 60. 563. (1830). — CobymbifebjE, Cynabocephal*, and Cichobace-k, 

 Juss. Gen. (1789.) 



Diagnosis. Monopetalous dicotyledons, with a 1-celled inferior ovarium, 

 capitate flowers, syngenesious stamens, and erect ovula. 

 Anomalies. 



Essential Character. — Calyx superior, closely adhering 1 to the ovarium, and undia- 

 tinguishable from it: its limb either wanting-, or membranous, divided into bristles, palea, 

 hairs, or feathers, and called pappus. Corolla monopetalous, superior, usually deciduous, 

 either ligulate or funnel-shaped ; in the latter case, 4- or 5-toothed, with a valvate aestivation. 

 Stamens equal in number to the teeth of the corolla, and alternate with them ; the anthers 

 cohering into a cylinder. Ovarium inferior, 1-celled, with a single erect ovulum ; style sim- 

 ple ; stigmas 2, either distinct or united. Fruit a small, indehiscent, dry pericarpium, 

 crowned with the limb of the calyx. Seed solitary, erect ; embryo with a taper, inferior 

 radicle ; albumen none. — Herbaceous plants or shrubs. Leaves alternate or opposite, without 

 stipulffi, usually simple. Flowers (called Jlorets) diclinous or monoclinous, collected in dense 

 heads upon a common receptacle, surrounded by an involucrum. Bractcce either present or 

 absent ; when present, stationed at the base of the florets, and called palcae of the receptacle. 



Affinities. One of the most natural and extensive families of the vege- 

 table kingdom, at all times recognised by its syngenesious stamens and capitate 

 flowers. Calycereea and Dipsaceaa, neighbouring orders, are readily dis- 

 tinguished by their pendulous ovulum, and by the anthers being either wholly 

 or partially distinct. In proportion to its strict natural limits, depending upon 

 the uniformity of its characters, is the difficulty of separating it into sections 

 or subordinate divisions, a measure absolutely necessary, on account of the 

 vast number of species referable to the order. Jussieu has three ; Corymbiferae, 

 the florets of which are flosculous in the middle, and ligulate at the circum- 

 ference ; Cichoraceae, the florets of which are all • ligulate ; and Cynaroce- 

 phalffi, all whose florets are flosculous : to which has since been added a tribe 

 called bilabiate. Linnaeus divided them according to the stamens and pistils of 

 the florets of different parts of the same head. The former has been found un- 

 exceptionable, as far as it goes ; the latter wholly unmanageable. Neither, 

 however, have satisfied the views of modern botanists, who have divided the 

 order into a considerable number of sections, to which each has given his own 

 name ; so that this order has become a perfect chaos to all who have not 

 devoted years to its exclusive study. The most important of those who have 

 undertaken to remodel Composite, are M. Cassini, who has written much 

 upon them in the Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles, and elsewhere ; M. 

 Kunth, whose arrangement will be found in Humboldt's Nova Genera et 

 Species Planlarum ; Mr. Don, who has written several detached papers upon 

 them ; and Link, who has an arrangement of his own in his Handbuch, vol. 1. 

 p. 685. The most profound writers upon their general structure are M. 

 Cassini and Mr. Robert Brown, whose paper in the 12th volume of the 

 Transactions of the Linncean Society is a masterpiece of careful investigation 

 and acute reasoning, from which I extract the following remarks : 



