CHARACTERISTICS OF BOTANICAL FAMILIES 



The filaments of the stamens, united into a tube, stand around 

 the pistil. The long cells of the anthers open lengthwise, 

 often in bud. The pollen, instead of being in grains, is in a 

 long, yellow, flat mass, one in each cell (in shape like an 

 apple seed), which can be squeezed out entire with thumb 

 and finger. Two of these, from different, adjacent anthers, 

 cling together by a thread, and adhere to insects visiting 

 them and so are carried to other flowers. 



There are seemingly two pistils (really two ovaries) united 

 above into a large, flattish, sticky stigma which catches and 

 holds the pollen-masses borne to it by bees. In the flower the 

 pollen-masses lie too low for its own stigma. The insect visit 

 is absolutely necessary for fertilization. Now perhaps we 

 have found a use for the hoods. They probably collect and 

 store nectar, and so invite the insects, upon whose help the 

 flower is dependent. The reflexed corolla could not hold 

 any nectar, and without nectar bees would pass the milk- 

 weed by. 



The Mint Family is large and important. The general 

 characteristics of the Family are square stems, opposite or 

 whorled leaves, a fragrance given out by numerous oily 

 glands, and a fruit of four achene-like nutlets, i in each of 

 4 visibly distinct divisions of the ovary, from the center 

 of which arises the style. The corolla is a tube with 2 lips, 

 each lip, or sometimes the upper one only, divided into 

 lobes. A square-stemmed, herbaceous plant, with the well- 

 known minty odor and the 4-lobed ovary, is quickly relegated 

 to this Family. 



Many of the housekeeper's best flavorings — lavender, 

 marjoram, thyme, sage, rosemary — belong here, as well as 

 the horehound, catnip, pennyroyal, and peppermint which 

 used to hang drying in our grandmothers' attics, the most 

 prized belongings of the home pharmacy. Whether the 

 drugs which have superseded these simple herb drinks are, 

 on the whole, more conducive to long life is a question for 

 life-insurance companies to consider. 



Composite Family. — The largest and most advanced 

 of all the Botanical Families is the Composite. It contains 

 one-tenth of all known species of flowering plants, one- 

 eighth of which are indigenous to North America. The 

 Composites were called compound flowers by older botanists. 



