336 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY 



expanded on one side ; but their identity as florets is 

 clearly shown by their likeness to the others in the 

 style and inferior ovary, even though the stamens are 

 absent. 



We see then that the whole flower-head is a com- 

 posite structure made up of a large number of florets. 



The florets are flowers, those of the disc complete 

 in everything but the calyx, those forming the rays 

 without stamens or perhaps even styles. 



The whole head is termed a capitulum, the green 

 bracts outside are called the involucre, or the 'bracts 

 of the involucre,' and the expanded end of the stalk, 

 on which the florets are set, is called the receptacle. 



The anthers are syngenesious, forming a tube round 

 the style, and open on the inside, so as to shed their 

 pollen into this tube. The small triangular flaps, at 

 the tops of the anthers are continuations of the con- 

 nectives, and combined together they form at first a 

 lid to this tubular box. The style is at first much 

 shorter than the stamens but growing rapidly in length, 

 with the age of the floret, pushes out the pollen in 

 front of it, at the end of the anther-tube (which is 

 the reason for the small tufts of pollen one sees on 

 the newly opened florets), and bees very quickly remove 

 this pollen. After a while the style still growing, 

 protrudes beyond the anthers and its two branches 

 separate and display their inner, stigmatic, surfaces, 

 ready to catch any pollen that may be brought by 

 bees, or may fall on them, and later on curling down- 

 wards, pick up pollen that has fallen on the corolla tube. 



If you watch bees at work you will generally find 

 that they alight on the outer edge of the flower-head 



