THE YARROW. 143 



few leaves, and do not branch much, if at all, until near 

 their extremities, when the numerous stems that support 

 the inflorescence are given off ; these leave the main stem 

 at a rather small angle, so that the general upright 

 character of growth is still in a great measure preserved. 

 All the stems are generally finely furrowed. The inflo- 

 rescence is corymbose, a term employed to describe this 

 particular variety of flower arrangement. Numerous flower- 

 bearing stems are thrown off at different levels, but, 

 owing to the shortness of the upper and the length of the 

 lower sterns, all are so arranged at their upper extremities 

 as to make a flat, or almost flat, mass of blossoms. There 

 is perhaps no better example of the corymb, common as 

 examples of it are, than that presented by the dense flat 

 mass of flowers that crowns the branches of the yarrow. 

 Like the daisy or the dandelion, the sow-thistle or the 

 groundsel, those parts of the plant that we in ordinary 

 parlance call flowers are really compound aggregations of 

 numerous blossoms in one mass, called a flower-head. In 

 many of the Composite this fact is sufficiently evident, 

 from the size and distinct character of the individual 

 florets, to strike any one on very slight examination; 

 but in the yarrow the florets of the disk are small, 

 and might easily pass on a cursory view for a group of 

 stamens ; while the florets of the ray, the exterior and ray- 

 bearing blossoms, are so few in number ordinarily five or 

 six that these rays in like manner might to the novice 

 appear but the petals of some simple flower, like the five of 

 the buttercup. They, however, bear the same relation in 

 this flower that the outer circle of white does to the daisy 

 flower-head, or the yellow rays of the ragwort do to the 

 central portion. These rays in the yarrow are generally 



