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CHAPTEE XL 

 COMPOSITE. 



" Spake fall well, in language quaint and olden, 



One who dwelleth by the castled Rhine, 

 When he called the flowers, so blue and golden, 

 Stars, that in earth's firmament do shine. 



" Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous, 



God hath written in the stars above ; 

 But not less in the bright flow'rets under us 

 Stands the revelation of His love ! " 



LONGFELLOW. 



THE COMPOSITE flowers, which now come to us in the course of 

 natural arrangement, form the largest of our orders. De 

 Candolle, the celebrated botanist, divided these plants into 

 groups : 1st, the Strap-shaped or Chicory group, where all the 

 florets are strap-shaped and perfect ; 2nd, the Tubular group, 

 where all the florets are tube-shaped and perfect ; 3rd, the 

 Corymb group, where the florets of the centre or disk are 

 perfect, and those of the margin or circumference are strap- 

 shaped, and have pistils only. All the flowers of this tribe are 

 composed of numerous florets, as indeed the name of the order, 

 " Composite," indicates. Lindley computes the number of 

 genera in this tribe at 1005. They are mostly herbaceous 

 plants, but some few attain to the stature of trees. The king 

 of these is the Synchodendron, a tree fifty feet high, a native 

 of Madagascar. The appearance of its flowers is a signal to 

 the inhabitants to sow their Eice. 



The Strap-shaped group has some useful members. The 

 Chicory leaves are good as a salad, and the powdered roots are 

 mixed with Coffee. Endive is another kind of Chicory, but not 

 a wild species. The root of the Dandelion makes a wholesome 

 tonic medicine. 



