SECT. II. APPENDAGES OF THE FRUIT. 



the aril should be itself contained. The impro- 

 priety therefore of including the organs in question 

 under the head of the aril is evident, at least till 

 botanists shall have given more latitude to their 

 definition of the term. 



The down is a fine and hair-like, or plume-like, The 

 though sometimes bristly and chaff-like substance, 

 surmounting the seeds of compound flowers. It is 

 either sessile, that is, situated immediately upon 

 the summit of the seed, as in liter acium ; or sti- 

 pitate, that is, supported upon a pedicle, as in 

 Lactuca. In its structure it is either simple, that 

 is, having the individual hairs undivided, as in 

 Sonchus ; or branched, that is, having the indivi- 

 dual hairs divided, as in Picris. In the Dandelion 

 and Tragopogon, in the former of which it is hair- 

 like, and in the latter feathered, but in both stipi- 

 tate, it expands horizontally after the decay of the 

 corolla, the individual hairs assuming the appear- 

 ance of the radii of a circle or spokes of a wheel ; 

 and their aggregate assemblage, as attached to the 

 different seeds, assuming the appearance of a large 

 and globular ball terminating the scape. 



The down is generally regarded as being the 

 proper calyx of the individual floret of the com- 

 pound flower, as well as constituting ultimately an 

 appendage of the seed. And though in all cases 

 its resemblance to a calyx is more fanciful than 

 real, and in most cases altogether dissimilar, yet 

 in several genera, as in Hdianthus, Dipsacus, and 



