BLOWERS CLUB TOGETHER. 161 



Hie composites which produce purple ^ or blue 

 ray-florets to attract insects are in some ways the 

 highest of their class. Still, there is another 

 group of composites which has proceeded a 

 little further in ojae direction ; and that is the 

 group which includes the dandelions. In these 

 heads all the florets alike have become strap- 

 shaped or ray-like ; but they differ from the 

 double composites of the gardeners in this, that 

 each floret sUU^retains its stamens and pistil. 

 The composites^ a oT"'"ffie dandelion group are 

 chiefly weeds like the hawkbit and the sow- 

 thistle. A few are cultivated as vegetables, 

 such as lettuce, salsify, chicory, and endive ; 

 fewer still are prized for their flowers for 

 ornamental purposes, such as the orange hawk- 

 weed. The prevailing colour in this class is 

 yellow, and the devices for insect-fertilisation 

 are not nearly so high as in the ray-bearing 

 group. I regard them as to a great extent a 

 retrograde tribe of the composite family. 



In this chapter I have dealt chiefly with the 

 co-operative clubbing together of insect-fertilised 

 flowers, for purposes of mutual convenience ; but 

 you must not forget that similar clubs exist also 

 among the wind-fertilised blossoms in quite equal 

 profusion. Such are the catkins of forest trees, 

 the panicles of grasses, the spikes of sedges, and 

 the heads of the black-cap rush and many other 

 water-plants. Some of these, such as the bur- 

 reed, we have already considered. 



Lastly, I ought to add that where the flowers 

 themselves are inconspicuous, attention is often 

 called to them by a bright-coloured leaf or group 

 11 



