The Composites. ^53 



give it a name : if he puts it into the right genus, and does not blunder, no 

 one must meddle with his name. The name of the describer of a genus 

 or species is written with its name in many cases : thus Tournefort named 

 tlie genus Morus, and Linnaeus the species M. alba- So we say Morns 

 (Tournef ) and M. alba. (Lin.). Here is quite a temptation to little men to 

 i'mmoicJize themselves by changing a name. 



Again : the genera that are most alike are united together into an order. 

 One of these, Filices, includes all the ferns ; another, Gratninece, the grasses ; 

 another is named ComposHce, the composite plants. This we have selected 

 for our present study. We have three reasons for this : they are easily 

 recognized, are very numerous, and the parts of the flower are so modified 

 as to afford us just the exercise we need. The dandelion in the spring, 

 the daisy in summer, and the golden-rods and asters in autumn, furnish us 

 with ready examples. And who cannot find a thistle, a burdock, or a 

 beggar-tick, wherever there are blossoms anywhere ? 



As to numbers, there is but one order which is half as large as the 

 compositae. They constitute about a tenth of the flowering-plants of 

 Massachusetts, of the United States from Behring Straits to Key West, 

 and of the world. Most of them are herbs : one found on our sea-coast 

 is a small shrub called marsh-elder, or high-water shrub, — Iva frutescens. 

 One is the only thing resembling a tree that grows in Bogota ; another is 

 a slender tree in the recesses of the Andes. Strangely enough, most of the 

 trees of St. Helena are of this order. 



None of those native to our part of the world are more useful for food 

 than lettuce and dandelions. But the tuberous roots of the Jerusalem arti- 

 choke are well known to boys, and not unacceptable to pigs. Its name is 

 a corruption of the Italian name for sunflower, girasole, of which it is a 

 species, — Hdianthus tuberosus. The true artichoke is a composite plant, 

 Cynara Scolymus, of which we eat the boiled flower-bud. The tuber is 

 called artichoke, because it resembles the bud in taste. But by far the 

 mo it important food-plant known to us in this order is the salsify, or vege- 

 table oyster, — Tragopogon porrif alius ^ — of which few know the full value. 

 Another root of similar shape is the best adulteration of coffee yet known 

 (cichor)'), — Chichorium Intybus. In fact, where cream is abundant, the mod- 

 erate addition of cichory is rather an improvement on the unmixed berr)^ 



