NOTABLE PLANT FAMILIES 



Although the great majority of plant families can only be 

 distinguished by a combination of characteristics which are too 

 obscure to obtain any general recognition, there are some few 

 instances where these family traits are sufficiently conspicuous to 

 be of great assistance in the ready identification of flowers. 



If, for instance, we recognize at sight a papilionaceous blos- 

 som and know that such an one only occurs in the Pulse family, 

 we save the time and energy which might otherwise have been 

 expended on the comparison of a newly found blossom of this 

 character with the descriptions of flowers of a different lineage. 

 Consequently it has seemed wise briefly to describe the marked 

 features of such important families as generally admit of easy 

 identification. 



Composite Family. — It is fortunate for the amateur botanist 

 that the plant family which usually secures the quickest recog- 

 nition should also be the largest in the world. The members of 

 the Composite family attract attention in every quarter of the 

 globe, and make themselves evident from early spring till late 

 autumn, but more especially with us during the latter season. 



The most notable characteristic of the Composites is the 

 crowding of a number of small flowers into a close cluster or 

 head, which head is surrounded by an involucre, and has the 

 effect of a single blossom. Although this grouping of small 

 flowers in a head is not peculiar to this tribe, the same thing 

 being found in the clovers, the milkworts, and in various other 

 plants — still a little experience will enable one to distinguish a 

 Composite without any analysis of the separate blossoms which 

 form the head. 



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