8 IDENTIFYING WILD FLOWEES. 



The Dandelion is a common example of one type of Com- 

 posites, each yellow strap-shaped ray being a flower in 

 itself with pistils and stamens, and producing a fruit or 

 seed below. The whole mass of florets is called a " head 

 of flowers " or a Capitulum, having a ring of green bracts, 

 called an involucre, underneath the flower-head. 



In the Knapweed all the florets are tubular and 

 5-cleft. Its central florets have stamens and pistils, but 

 its outer florets are larger and have neither stamens nor 

 pistils. The involucre is large, oval, and is composed of 

 rather large, fringed, and imbricated bracts. 



The Daisy is a common example of a second type of 

 Composites. In it the yellow inner part or " eye " is 

 composed of many tube-shaped florets or flowers, and 

 each white strap-shaped piece is also a floret, though of a 

 different shape, the whole whorl of them forming the 

 " rays " of the compound " head " of flowers. 



In the Groundsel, the Thistle, and the Butter-bur is 

 found a very similar structure. They have tiny florets 

 crowded together in " heads " and surrounded below by a 

 number of green bracts forming an involucre, which serves 

 to contain the florets and the fruits or seeds, and also to 

 protect them. In measuring Composite flowers, the whole 

 of a single " head " or capitulum is taken as the basis, 

 each floret or flower being usually too inaccessible and 

 minute for measurement. 



C. ABOUT LEAVES. 



It is essential that in the examination of a plant the 

 leaves from various parts of the stem should be observed. 

 The gradations in size and shape from base to apex of 

 the shoot are often considerable, and may lead to wrong 

 conclusions. An average leaf, both in size and shape, 

 taken from about the middle of the stem, will be found the 

 best from which to work. 



Alternate leaves proceed one only from each node, 

 one on one side and the next above or below it. 



Opposite leaves are those which proceed two from the 

 same node on opposite sides of the stem. 



