28 DAISY. [CHAP. 



styles, and by its two cells, as we shall see if we cut the 

 ovary across. 



FIG. 17. Vertical section of a flower of Cow Parsnip. 



The calyx is superior, gamosepalous ; corolla poly- 

 petaloits, regular or irregular; stamens epigynous, pent- 

 androus; pistil syncarpous, ovary inferior. 



8. DAISY. The structure of the flower-heads is very 

 puzzling at first. Let us refer again to the Cow Parsnip. 

 In this plant we have a number of flowers borne upon 

 short peduncles (pedicels), which spring from the same 

 point, or centre. Suppose all the flowers had been sessile, 

 we should then have had them arranged upon the top of 

 the stem, much in the same way as the parts of a single 

 flower are arranged upon the floral receptacle. In the 

 Daisy we have an example of such a case. Very numerous 

 small flowers, called_/ft?r<?/^, are arranged upon a common 

 receptacle, which in the Daisy is conical, and surrounded 

 at its base by a whorl of small, narrow, herbaceous 

 leaves, forming Avhat is called an involucre, and remind- 

 ing us much of a calyx, for which it is apt to be mistaken 

 by beginners. 



If a careful section be made lengthwise through the 

 centre of the flower-head, the general plan of the whole 

 becomes evident, though from the smallness of the florets 

 in the Daisy a lens will be needed in order to make out 

 their structure properly. The cut shows such a section. 



