THE COMPOSITE. 



147 



FIG. 429. FIG. 430. FIG. 



agree ? In the matter of cohesion, you always found the 

 calyx gamosepalous, the corolla gamopetalous, the stamens 

 syngenesious, and the forked style, of which 

 Fig. 429 is a magnified view, seems to imply 

 a syncarpous pistil, although the ovary is one- 

 celled and one-ovuled. 



In the matter of adhesion, you always found 

 the calyx-tube adherent to the ovary (Fig. 431), 

 forming the peculiar kind of achenium known 

 as a cypsela, and on further 

 inspection you would find 

 one erect exalbuminous seed 

 (Fig. 430) ; and, if you were 

 to examine the entire nine 

 thousand species, you would 

 find them all bearing the 

 same characters. 



But you need not discov- 

 er all these characters before you decide that a given plant 

 belongs to the composite order. If you find syngenesious 

 stamens in the florets of a dense flower-head, it settles the 

 question. The coexistence of the two characters makes 

 sure the inference that the plant has all the above-named 

 characters, and also that it is more or less bitter. 



Well, you have now the means of easily recognizing 

 the members of this great family. They differ from all 

 other plants, not in their inflorescence, for many other 

 plants blossom in a head ; not in having syngenesious 

 anthers, for in many other plants the anthers are coher- 

 ent ; but they differ from all other plants in possessing 

 both these characters. This circumstance is, therefore, 

 characteristic of the compositae. It enables you to identify 

 any plant that belongs to the order. (See Flora, pages 185 

 to 191, where the characteristics of all the principal orders 

 of plants are given.) Observe the distinction between that 

 which characterizes an order and the characters of that 



