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point. In Everlasting they are large, dry, and coloured. 

 In Thistles they are tipped with spines. The flower itself 

 shows us a circle of spreading white or mauve rays, and 

 a central cushion of yellow florets. If you carefully cut 

 the flower in two and take out one of the little yellow 

 florets, without injuring it, you will find it consists of a 

 fleshy stalk-like base, which will become the seed. At the 

 top of this we find a ring of long hairs ; close inside this 

 is a yellow tube, ending in four or five little lobes. The 

 fleshy stalk is the ovary, and contains one erect ovule; 

 the ring of hairs is a very modified calyx ; the yellow tube 

 is the corolla. If you split the corolla open you will find 

 it has attached to its inner surface four or five stamens. 

 The filaments are free, but the anthers are united to form 

 a tube, and they open on their inner aspect. In the centre 

 of the floret is a long slender style ; it arises from the top 

 of the ovary, passes up through the ring of anthers, and 

 divides above into two spreading arms. It may be here 

 noted that a flower of the Composite Family may always 

 be told from other composite flowers by the union of the 

 anthers; the others have free anthers. Now, examine one 

 of the ray florets. It differs in the shape of the corolla; 

 instead of being tubular it is shaped like a strap, which is 

 usually toothed at the extreme end to mark the petals of 

 which it is made up; also in ray florets the stamens are 

 generally absent or abortive. The fruit is formed of the 

 slightly enlarged and hardened ovary, each containing one 

 seed. 



The form of flower, as in Daisy, namely, with an outer 

 ray of strap florets and a disc of tubular ones, is the com- 

 monest form met with. In Buttons, a plant of wet local- 

 ities, with compact yellow flowers, and in the Groundsel 

 of our Gardens, the florets are all tubular ; while in Dande- 

 lion and its allies they are all strap-shaped. 



The ring of hairs we have referred to. and called the 

 calyx, varies greatly in different genera. In Daisy shrub 

 it is very conspicuous; in our little mauve Daisies it is 

 reduced to minute teeth; in the introduced wild Daisy it 

 is absent; in Dandelion it is formed of simple hairs, which, 

 in the fruiting condition, are borne upon a long stalk-giv- 

 ing it the appearance of a parachute. The calyx is 

 persistent on the fruit, and is called the Pappus. When 

 well developed it is of much use in assisting the dispersal 

 of the seed. Pollen is shed from the anthers before the 

 style is fully grown. This organ pushes up through the 

 anther ring, carrying the pollen before it, and by the time 



