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CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 133. 
valuable of medicines, is extracted. These trees are all natives of the 
north-western parts of South America, growing on the slopes and in the 
valleys of the Andes. 
A very large order of plants is called Composite [Latin, ‘ composite 
or compound’], because the flowers are grouped very closely together 
into heads, so that the whole head appears as one flower. This 
order contains many species prized for the beauty of their flowers, as 
daisies, chrysanthemums, marigolds, dahlias, and asters. The leaves of 
some are used as salads, as those of the lettuce and endive. The roots 
of others are eaten, as those of the salsafy and scorzonera ; and the roots 
of the Jerusalem artichoke, which is a species of sunflower, produce 
tubers like the potato. The roots of chicory, dried and ground into. 
powder, are used as a substitute for coffee, or for mixing with coffee.. 
The receptacle of the head of flowers—the enlarged summit of the 
flower-stalk—is the eatable part of the artichoke; it is the same part 
which boys know as the cheese of thistles. Thistles belong to this 
order. 
Heaths belong to the order Ericacee, from Latin erica, heath. The 
species of this order are very numerous. They are shrubs with 
evergreen hard leaves and extremely beautiful flowers. Many of them 
are what are called social plants, that is, multitudes of them grow 
together ; and some of the species cover great tracts of country, as the 
common heather of British moors. To this order belong also rhododendrons,} 
or rose-trees, so called from the likeness of their flowers to the rose. 
_—The olive gives its name to the order Oleacee, from Latin olea, an olive, 
to which the ash, the lilac, and the privet also belong. All the species of 
this order are trees and shrubs, natives of temperate countries. 
The order Solanacee, from Latin solanum, the nightshade, is particularly 
important as containing the potato. No other plant of the order produces 
edible tubers ; but the fruits of some are used, as those of the egg-plant and 
the tomato or love-apple. Poisonous qualities, however, generally prevail 
throughout the order. The species of capsicum are small shrubby plants 
of this order, remarkable for the pungency of their fruit, which far exceeds 
that of pepper. The berries of capsicums, often called chillies, are pickled 
to make hot pickles, and when dried and powdered, they become Cayenne 
pepper. Henbane belongs to this order, which also contains the deadly 
nightshade, the berries of which are very poisonous, and are sometimes 
unhappily eaten by children, who mistake them for blackberries. This 
order also produces tobacco, which is made of the leaves of several species 
of a genus called Nicotiana, from Nicot, who introduced tobacco into 
France in 1560.—The order Scrophulariacea, so called from the resemblance 
of their roots to scrofulous tumours, contains a great number of species, 
1 From Greek rhodon, a rose, and dendron, a tree, 
