The Botany of Hingham. 109 



numbers upon a common receptacle, the enlarged head of the 

 flower stalk, and by the anthers of the stamens cohering in a tube. 

 The marginal flowers generally have strap-shaped corollas, which, 

 extending as rays around the receptacle, are often very showy, 

 while the interior ones of the disk having only tubular corollas 

 are comparatively insignificant. This gives the impression to 

 observers unfamiliar with botanical details that only a single 

 flower is seen where many are aggregated. 



Take the Sunflower, so called, for an example ; the very name 

 of which implies it is one flower. In this case each of the yellow 

 rays surrounding the whole receptacle is the corolla of a single 

 marginal flower, those of the disk having no such rays. The 

 greater portion of the Composita? of our town are of this charac- 

 ter. The flowers of some have the corollas all strap-shaped or 

 ligulate, as this form is called, as may be seen in the Dandelion 

 and many others. 



The Composite, considering the vast number of species, do not 

 furnish many useful products to man. A few supply food, as the 

 Artichoke, Salsify, and Lettuce. The root of the Chickory is used 

 extensively as a substitute for coffee. From the seeds of the Sun- 

 flower and some others an oil is expressed which is valuable. A 

 bitter principle, found in several species, combined with other 

 properties, has led to the use of many of them medicinally, par- 

 ticularly Wormwood, Camomile, Arnica, Artemisia, and Elecam- 

 pane. Some are quite poisonous, as Arnica. 



As objects of beauty many of the cultivated species of the order 

 surpass ifchose of any other in the autumnal season. How greatly 

 should we feel the loss of the Asters, the Chrysanthemums, the 

 Dahlias, and the varieties of Coreopsis from our flower gardens 

 when nearly all their earlier companions " are faded and gone." 



Vernonia, Schreb. 



uoveboracensis, Willd. Iron Weed. Rare. 



Mikania, Willd. 



scandens, L. Hemp Weed. 



Eupatorium, Tourn. 



purpureum, L. Trumpet Weed. 



teucrifolium, Willd. 



sessilifolium, L. Boneset. 



perfoliatum, L. Thoroughwort. 

 Solidago, L. 



cassia, L. Golden Rod. 



latifolia, L. 



bicolor, L. 



sempervirens, L. 



puberula, Nutt. 



odora, Ait. 



speciosa, Nutt. 



rugosa, Mill. 



Eliiottii, Torr. & Gr. 



