SUPPLEMEN1 



as broad. The yellow star thistle, Centaurea melitensis, Linn., will 

 be considered in Chapter XVI. 



The sub-order, Liguliflorae, has heads composed of ligulate flowers 

 only ; it is also characterized by its bitter, milky juice. The corollas 

 are five-toothed ; our common species have generally a downy pap- 

 pus, and flower heads that remain open only under the most favorable 

 conditions. Chicory, cultivated as a substitute for coffee, has escaped 

 from cultivation in some parts of the state ; its pretty blue flower 

 heads are sometimes called bachelor's buttons. Lettuce and salsify 

 belong here, and the introduced dandelion of our lawns and streets ; 

 also the sow-thistle, Sonchus, considered in Chapter XVI. The most 

 handsome native flowers of this group belong to the genus Malaco- 

 thrix. M. saxatilis, var. tenuifolia, is pictured and described in 

 Chapter III. There are also some striking annual species:^/. Coulteri, 

 Gray, is one of the most beautiful flowers of the San Joaquin valley, 

 and is occasionally found as far south as San Fernando; the heads 

 are white or creamy, becoming rosy with age. M. Calif ornica, DC., 

 has heads an inch and a half or two inches in diameter, each consist- 

 ing of between one and two hundred pale yellow ray flowers. There 

 are acres and acres of untilled sandy soil in the south where these 

 regal heads are lifted on their long peduncles above the sunlit carpet 

 of lesser flowers. 



The parsley family, Umbelliferae, contains about thirteen hundred 

 species. Like Composite, this order is easily recognized, but the 

 species are very difficult to identify ; they do not form a conspicuous 

 part of our native flora, but some very common plants are among 

 them. A little enterprise in observing and collecting would enable 

 older classes to make out a long list of family traits. The clusters are 

 umbellate, often being compound umbels ; the individual flowers have 

 inferior ovaries ; the calyx limb has usually five minute teeth ; there 

 are five petals, five stamens, two styles and an ovary that separates 

 into two akenes ; the stem is usually hollow and grooved, and the 

 leaves compound, often finely dissected; carrots, parsley, and fennel are 

 examples ; the petioles are sometimes prominent, as in the celery ; 

 the roots often store much food, and in some species are edible ; fre- 

 quently the plants are very aromatic, especially the seeds, as in the 

 fennel, dill, coriander and caraway. 



Our most notable example of a noxious species is the poison hem- 

 lock, Conium maculatum, Linn , which blooms in rich, shaded soil 

 in June. Our notable exceptions to the family trait of compound 

 leaves, grow in wet or shaded places. The genus Hydrocotyle, or 

 marsh pennywort, has minute flowers, but very pretty, rounded, scal- 



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