its branches have spread and developed a stigmatic surface, 

 the pollen has lost its effectiveness. This prevents self- 

 fertilisation. These flowers are most commonly crossed by 

 flies and small beetles, which fly on to the conspicuous head 

 and, walking about, carry pollen from flower to flower. 



Although we have a great number of plants belonging to 

 this family, there is so much sameness about their general 

 character "that they do not appeal to the sympathy of the 

 wild flower gatherer. To the botanist they are of great 

 interest; but then the student is not in quest of beauty. 

 It is the largest of all families of flowering plants, includ- 

 ing about ten thousand plants. Strange to say, in Aus- 

 tralia it comes only fourth on the list We have far more 

 leguminous plants; next comes Myrtles, and then Proteas. 

 Most of the family are herbs; very few attain the dignity 

 of small trees. The herbaceous condition appears to be 

 more disposed to the formation of variety of form than the 

 arborescent state. Shrubs and trees were probably evolved 

 from herbs, but the reduction to the lower form possibly 

 never takes place. If the gradual evolution of flower forms 

 is also carefully considered, it leads to the conclusion that 

 the composite flower is a very specialised type. These 

 considerations have led botanists to conclude that com- 

 posites are the latest structure in plant development. It 

 is impossible to come to a definite conclusion, for flowering 

 plants have not developed along one course, but many and 

 independently. Of the many lesser lines there are two 

 large parallel sections developing independently) of one 

 another, the Dicotyls and Monoootyls, and we canrot form 

 any definite conclusions as to which is the older. Among 

 the latter we shall shortly see that the Orchids have cer- 

 tainly attained as high a degree of complexity as have 

 composites. 



We generally speak of the seed of a plant as though it 

 were the start of a new being as though it were a new 

 creature called into existence. It is convenient to treat 

 it thus, but not very accurate. A seed is the outcome of the 

 coalescence of pollen and ovum, and these are nothing 

 more than portions of the plants from which they are 

 derived carrying with them the characters of those plants. 

 They are lineal descendants without break from the earliest 

 organisms that existed upon the earth. Some naturalists 

 are very fond, because bacteria never produce seed, of 

 exhibiting a little bit of marvellousness in claiming that 

 these beings have been immortal as far as the past is con- 

 cerned. This is quite unnecessary, as the same can be 



