268 COMPOSITA. 
heads are also discoid when the marginal female florets have tubular 
corollas instead of ligulate. Calyx superior, adnate to the ovary 
and hardly to be distinguished from it ; limb either wanting or com- 
posed of scales, bristles, or hairs, and then called pappus. Corolla. 
gamopetalous, superior, either tubular or campanulate with 4-6. 
valvate lobes, or ligulate with the lobes cohering into a strap- 
shaped lamina which spreads to one side. Stamens 4—5, inserted 
on the tube of the corolla and alternate with its lobes; filaments 
usually free; anthers united into a sheath surrounding the style, 
cells sometimes produced at the base into bristle-like points or tails. 
Ovary inferior, 1-celled; style slender, 2-fid, branches short or long,. 
linear, usually semi-terete, furnished with variously placed and 
arranged collecting-hairs for sweeping the pollen from the anther- 
cells, margins stigmatic ; ovule solitary, erect, anatropous. Fruit a 
small dry seed-like nut called an achene, either crowned by the per- 
sistent pappus or naked. Seed erect, with a membranous testa; 
albumen wanting ; embryo straight, radicle short, inferior. 
A vast order, by far the largest of flowering plants, comprising about 800 
genera and 10000 species. It is found in every part of the world, from the 
equator to the limits of phenogamic vegetation in the arctic and antarctic 
regions, and is equally plentiful in lowland districts and in mountainous or 
alpine situations. In New Zealand it constitutes rather more than one-seyenth 
of the total number of flowering plants, a somewhat large proportion, the ratio 
of the whole order to the flowering plants of the world being generally estimated 
at about one-tenth. Although so numerous in species, the order is far from 
being proportionately important from an economic point of view. Edible 
species are singularly few, the chief being the Jerusalem and common artichoke, 
lettuce, and chicory. Oils are yielded by the sunflower and by Madia sativa. 
The chief medicinal plants are arnica, wormwood, and camomile. Many orna- 
mental species are cultivated in gardens, as the various kinds of chrysanthe- 
mums, dahlias, cinerarias, asters, sunflowers, zinnias, marigolds, &c.; but on 
the whole it must be confessed that the majority of the plants composing the 
order present a weedy and unattractive appearance. Of the 26 indigenous genera. 
16 are widely spread; 5 extend to Australia alone (Brachycome, Olearia, Cel-. 
misia, Raoulia, Craspedia), but of these Celmisia and Raoulia are very feebly 
represented outside New Zealand. One genus (Cassinia) reaches South Africa 
as well as Australia; one (Abrotanella) occurs in Australia, Tasmania, and 
antarctic South America. The three remaining (Plewrophyllum, Haastia,. 
Brachyglottis) are endemic. Many weeds of cultivation belonging to the order 
have become naturalised in the colony, a list of over 60 species being given in 
the appendix. Most of these are from the Northern Hemisphere, and descrip- 
tions of nearly all will be found in any British Flora. 
Owing principally to the large size and homogeneous character of the order, 
very great difficulty has always been experienced in arranging the species in suit- 
able genera and tribes, and the classification is still in an unsettled state. As. 
there are no important differences in the flower and fruit, it becomes necessary 
to use minor characters, such as the shape of the style-branches; the sexual 
differences of the florets composing the heads; the shape of the corolla; the 
absence or presence of minute tails to the anthers; the various modifications of 
the pappus; and the minute differences in the shape and sculpture of the ripe 
fruit or achene. Considerable practice is required before these distinctions can 
be understood, and a beginner will find it no easy matter to refer the species to. 
their proper genera. His best plan will be to induce some friend to name a few 
for him, and then to carefully compare these with the specific, generic, and 
