216 ON COMPOUND FLOWERS. 



CONVERSATION XVIII. 



ON COMPOUND FLOWERS. 



Caroline. I have been studying your drawings, Mrs. 

 B., and imagined that I understood them perfectly ; but 

 when I attempted to make out the several parts on a real 

 flower, I am sorry to say that I found myself quite at a 

 loss. 



Mrs. B. What flower did you choose for this purpose, 

 my dear. 



Caroline. I was, perhaps too confident of my powers 

 of discernment, for I selected one that had a totally differ- 

 ent appearance from the pea or the tulip : it was a China 

 Aster. I made out a calyx and a corolla, but the rest 

 was all perplexity. 



Mrs. B. You have fallen into an error which many 

 botanists have done before you: you took the China Aster 

 for a single flower, whilst it is, in fact, an assemblage of 

 flowers, called in botany a head. 



Here is a China Aster I have just gathered : let us ex- 

 amine it. [See Plate III.] The stem or peduncle is ter- 

 minated by what you call a flower, and what I call a head 

 of flowers. The extremity of the peduncle, you see, ex- 

 pands Into a white disk, called a receptacle analogous to 

 the receptacle of the umbel, and in this all the florets are 

 inserted : it is not only the basis on which they rest, but 

 serves them also as a magazine of food. In the China 

 Aster it is flat, but in many other plants of the same fam- 

 ily it is more or less convex : it is sometimes as thin as a 

 sheet of paper, as in the Scorzoenera; at others, it is very 

 fleshy, as in the artichoke. 



Emily. Is it that internal part of the artichoke on 

 which the choke rests, and which is so good to eat ? 



Mrs. B. Yes. Around the receptacle of the China 

 Aster you see there are a considerable number of small 

 leaves, or bract. 



Caroline. That is what I supposed to be the calyx. 



1183. With what success did Caroline examine the plates'? 1184. 

 Into what error did she falH 1185, What is illustrated in Plate 

 1111 1186. How is it described! 



