70 



DICOTYLEDONS 



2. The flowers of high mountains are adapted to their special 

 climatic conditions. Trees and shrubs are dwarfed, having short, 

 gnarled and bent trunks with distorted branches and scanty 

 foliage, partly due to the increased movement of the air. Herbs 

 are, on the whole, xerophilous, distinguished by short stems form- 

 ing rosettes, large root systems, small thick leaves, often rolled 

 up sideways and downward covering the stomata beneath, and 

 completely covered by dense, air-entangling hairs, and the 

 withered remains of dead foliage thickly coating the stems. 

 Many of these low herbs are found huddled together like a flock 

 of sheep and forming cushions like mosses, e. g., the so-called 

 Ooty Moss {Anaphalis nilgherriensis). All these are ways by 

 which these plants are protected from loss of water; and most 

 of them can be studied in Anaphalis. 



The flowers of Anaphalis are not brightly coloured as Alpine 

 flowers usually are, but have scarcely any colour, becoming brown 



* and rough when withering. They 



are at the top of the main axis 

 which rises from a dense rosette of 

 leaves. Lateral branches grow 

 from the main stem bearing also 

 flower heads and carrying them 

 to a higher level. 



The Indian Cudweed {Gna- 

 phaliiim indicum), that grows on 

 the lulls and on the plains, is in 

 many respects like Anaphalis. 



Other Composites. 



The Composite Family is the 

 largest family of Howering })lMnts, 

 comprising about 12,000 known 

 species from all parts of worhl. l>ut the proportion of i)lants 

 which can be used by man is comparatively small. Some are 

 used in medicine; some are aromatic, abounding in volatile oil; 

 a considerable number are used as salad pot-herbs. 

 They are divided into three trihes: — 



Fif]f. 1 '1 . — Vernonin cinerea, the seeds 

 scattered hy tlie wind. 



