COMPOSITE 



umbel, the botanists call it. The little flowers that make 

 up the cluster are not of so high a rank as the florets in the 

 Composite . They do not unite their petals into a cup for 

 honey ; instead of this, the honey forms a thin layer over 

 the center of the flower, and so can be reached by the 

 humblest guests. The color, as one would expect, is almost 

 always white or yellow. The flowers in any cluster 

 usually all look alike, but sometimes the outside ones are 

 larger than the others, and rather frequently some flowers 

 have only anthers mature, while others have stigmas 

 ready for pollen. 



Some of the earliest plants to appear after the 

 rains, belong to this family. One of these, with its 

 underground part, in shown in Fig. 22, Chap. V. Its 

 rather homely little flowers are out by January, .and several 

 kinds of similar Umbelliferae are abundant all through the 

 winter and early spring. By May their fruits are mature; 

 some of these are like the fruit in Fig. 60 ; you can see how 

 the seeds hang by delicate threads until a wind scatters 

 them. There is another group, with very prickly, or bur- 

 like, little fruits, which you have probably helped to dis- 

 tribute by means of your clothing. 



During the later spring and early summer months, the 

 wild celery, hemlock and several other vigorous Umbelli- 

 ferae, flourish in damp places. In the towns of Southern 

 California, one of the most common wayside summer weeds 

 is the fennel, another member of this family ; it has very 

 delicate, feathery foliage and yellow flowers. The plant is 

 strongly scented, as are many other Umbelliferae, seeds of 

 which you probably know, such as caraway, coriander, 

 anise and dill. The pungent taste must protect these from 

 the attacks of animals. Many Umbelliferae are actually 

 poisonous both to man and animals. 



There are many other plant families, of various ranks, 

 that have adopted the plan of massing small flowers into 



157 



