148 THE STORY OF THE PLANTS. 



The 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 one direction ; and that is the group which in- 

 cludes 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 thi^, that each floret still re- 

 tains its stamens and pistil. The composites of 

 the 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 flow- 

 ers for ornamental purposes, such as the orange 

 hawkweed. 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 

 of leaves in their immediate neighbourhood. We 

 saw an instance of this in the great white spathe 

 or folding leaf which encloses the male and female 



