Classification of Plants 367 



tubular and surrounded by the strap-shaped (ligulate, " little 

 tongue '') ray flowers. The ray flowers are usually developed 

 at the expense of the stamens, and contain only pistils. 

 Stamens 5, alternating with the petals, cohering by their 

 anthers (syngenesious), as in Lobelia, forming a tube around 

 the style. Ovary inferior, of two carpels with a simple style 

 forking into two stigmas. The one-celled ovary contains one 

 ovule, growing from the base of the ovary. The fruit is an 

 achene. 



Since the flowers are massed together, they may be very small, and 

 yet form an attractive cluster for insects, especially when there are ray 

 flowers. One insect may visit a great many flowers in a short time. 

 The slender tube and united stamens protect the honey and pollen ; if 

 cross pollination fails, the divided stigmas may turn back and pollinate 

 themselves from the pollen which the styles have brushed out of the 

 anthers of the same flower. The flowers are so well equipped that they 

 have been distributed, and flourish, in nearly every part of the globe. 



Of the 810 genera, 153 are found in South Africa. 



The genera are grouped according to the style branches, 

 under six tribes, of which only a very few genera can be 

 mentioned. 



* Disc Flowers Tubular, Regular. 



Tribe I. Vernonie^. — Style branches long, slender, pointed, 

 hairy outside. Flowers not yellow, all tubular. Stigmatic 

 papillcB all over the inner surface. 



Vernonia. — Involucre of many overlapping scales, not 

 spine-pointed. Pappus of many bristles in two or more rows. 

 Achenes smooth or silky, ribbed. Erect or half-climbing 

 shrubs and herbs with white or purple flowers. Heads single 

 or in corymbs. Eastern. 



Corymbium. — Heads i -flowered, involucre of two op- 

 posite scales, with two or three outer bracts at base. Achenes 

 silky. Nearly stemless herbs, with linear parallel- veined leaves. 

 The rootstock clothed with long, soft, silky hairs. Cape Town 

 to Uitenhage. 



Tribe H. Eupatorie^. — Style branches long, blunt or 



