194 



enabled to cling to the bodies of man and beast and so 

 become distributed, or it may be wanting altogether as in 

 Wulffia, or, Helianthus. It might reasonably be surmised that 

 those plants possessing a pappus have a much greater chance of 

 being more widely spread over a given surface than would those 

 that are minus of such. Blowing the pappus from the beads of 

 the Dandelion is no uncommon boyish practice in many parts 

 of England, as a " time teller " or clock substitute. But as to 

 the correctness of the time told it is not necessary to say. The 

 involucre, or external wrapper to the flower head, is composed 

 of scales of numerous forms and textures. These scales may be 

 arranged in one row only as in Erigeron, tAvo rows as in Wedelia, 

 or of many as seen in Wulfha. Bracts, or scales, form a kind 

 of protection to a great many flowers, especially in the Com- 

 posita;. The other kind of plants which possess these bracts are 

 the Cyperacea? and the Gramineaj. Having now proceeded so 

 far, and before entering upon the way that the order of Com- 

 positaj is broken up into tribes, let us examine in brief what are 

 the main differences to notice in a Composite flower. 



The most important are the involucre, the kind of flower, 

 the pappus (if present), the shape of the receptacle, whether 

 large or small, scaly or naked, and, it may also be added the 

 stigma. By referring to Bentham and Hooker we find Com- 

 sitaB contains no less than the extremely lai'ge number of 766 

 genera. These are divided into the following thirteen Tribes. 



Tribe I. — Veroniaceaj — contains Centratherum, Oliganthes, Ele- 

 phantopus, Kolandra, &c. 

 ,, II. — Eupatoriaceai — Eupatorium, Mikania, Brickellia, &c. 

 ,, III. — Asfceroideee — Aster, Erigeron, Baccharis, &c. 

 ,, IV. — Inuloideai — Pluchea, Ptcrocaulon, Helichrysum, &c. 



,, V. — Helianthoideaj — Clibadium, Parthenium, Zinnia? 

 Eclipta, Rudbeckia, Wulffia, Helianthus, Melanthera, 

 Spilauthes, Salmea, Synedrella, Coreopsis, Dahlia, 

 Cosmos, Bidens, Calea, Tridax, &c. 



,, VI. — Helenioidea3. Porophyllum, Pectis, Galliardia, &c. 

 ,, VII. — Antheraidida). Achillea, Anthemis, Chrysanthe- 

 mum, Artemesia, &c. 



,, VIII. — Seuecionidea^ — Tussilago, Erechthites, Cineraria, 

 Emilia, Senecio, &c. 



,, IX. - Calendulacea?, Calendula, &g. 



,, X. — Arctotidea3. 



„ XI. — CynaroidcEe. 



