134 MEDICINAL IIEIIBS AND rOISONOUS PLANTS 



taken a dose of this plant on the advice of a quack 

 practitioner. Lobelia urens has intense blistering pro- 

 perties, and it is well to issue a warning against the 

 Avhole group of members classed under the genus Lobelia. 

 The CompositaB. — Daisy and Dandelion Famil3^ We 

 pass now to the most highly developed among all the 

 families of the veg^etable kintjdom. It is also the most 

 successful in point of numbers, for it far outstrips all 

 other orders in the number of genera in the order, and 



the number of species in tlie genus. 

 One has only to tliink of the Daisy or 

 of the Dandelion to realize that the 



number of individuals in the species 

 may also be very large. 



The order itself can be identified with- 

 out any trouble, as each flower is a 

 covimu7iity of small florets. It is not 

 necessary to take more than a passing 

 glance at the Daisy to verity this fact, 

 rig. 82. -a, Eay What looks like a calyx in the Daisy is, 



Floret of Daisy. - i-, , , « , „,,^ 



6, Disk Floret of ^^ reality, an assemblage of leaves sur- 

 *'^^' ""'^'"'^ rounding a group of florets, of which 



the outer ones are white, 'the inner ones 

 orange-coloured. These two types of florets are shown 

 in fig. 82, which should be studied in conjunction with 

 the flower itself. The only other order wdth which the 

 Composita3 can be confused is the DipsacecB, In the 

 latter, however, the stamens ^ve free; whilst in the Com- 

 posite flower they are fused, and form a ring round tlie 

 style. Whilst the order can be easily recognized, its 

 various species are not so easily identified, and great 

 care must be given to the examination of the character- 

 istics peculiar to each species. 



A hitterness of taste is found in a large nuuiber of the 

 Compositse; >some possess aromatic secretions, whilst 



