THE BUR-MARIGOLD. 1 09 



flower has withered and fallen away, when it takes its chance for 

 development, and grows into bristles, hairs, scales, awns, teeth, etc., 

 upon the top of the seed. The thistle-down is a good example of 

 this ; likewise, the two barbed teeth which crown the top of the 

 flat seeds in our present plant. The curious and interesting 

 arrangement of these seeds in the head, I may have occasion to 

 speak of in another place. 



The great family of the Composite flowers, which numbers about 

 12,000 species, or one-tenth of all flowering plants, is divided into 

 three groups, according as each separate flower in the head has a 

 strap-shaped floral appendage, as in the dandelion, or these floral 

 parts occur only around the margin of the head, like rays, as in the 

 Marigold and Sunflower, or are absent altogether, as in the This- 

 tle. These groups are still farther divided and subdivided on other 

 points of difference. The plants of this great order are mostly 

 characterized by an acrid or stringent juice, which makes many of 

 them serviceable in medicine, while some are very poisonous. 



The scientific name of the genus Bidens, means two teeth, and 

 is given in recognition of the two awns before referred to, with 

 which the seeds are provided. These barbed teeth serve an 

 excellent purpose, as minute grappling-hooks to attach the seeds to 

 the fleece or hair of animals, the plumage of birds, and the clothing 

 of men, thereby widely distributing them from the neighborhood 

 of the mother plant. 



In the usage of sentiment Mr. Hulme says, "The Pansy and 

 Marigold are associated together as emblems of sorrow, and cards 

 having wreaths of these two flowers painted on them and such 

 mottoes as, ' May you ever escape them,' ' May they be far re- 

 moved from thee,' are presented to each other by friends as an 



