BELL-FLOWERS AND DAISIES 173 
This is the general type of composite flower, but there 
are two divergences. The ray-flowers may disappear 
altogether, as in the Thistles and in the Common 
Groundsel, leaving nothing but tubes, or the whole head 
may insist upon developing into ray-flowers, and then 
we get some of our loveliest composites. The sky-blue 
Chicory, the gay Dandelion, with its still handsomer 
cousin the Goat’s Beard, and the Salsify, the purple 
heads of which are most often seen in kitchen gardens, 
all belong to this group. 
This reminds me of a very interesting point in the 
domestication of plants. Our Ox-eye Daisy is a type of 
the original Chrysanthemum, but the object of cultivation 
has been artificially to increase the number of ray-florets, 
and to get rid of alJl the tubular ones. Richer soil and 
careful selection have gradually succeeded in doing this, 
but you will see the inevitable result. All the energy 
having gone into the corolla, the plant cannot also make 
stamens and pollen. The beauty of the plant is attained, 
but no seed can ever be formed by the pistils alone. All 
continuation of the plant to future generations must 
-depend on cuttings. With the Dandelion and Chicory, 
on the other hand, the production of ray-flowers is an 
ordinary thing, and they have in each stamens and pistils, 
so that we need not fear that the Dandelion will become 
extinct and no longer invade our lawns, or that Chicory 
will ever fail to be sold as Coffee. 
(I remember seeing once that a worthy tradesman of 
Wolverhampton was fined for selling coffee mixed with 
95 per cent. of chicory, and I wondered of how many 
beautiful blue flowers that good man had robbed us. 
Dandelion roots are said to be used for the same purpose, 
but I should imagine that the trouble would be more 
