260 MORPHOLOGY OF AXGIOSPERMS 



The alliance culminates in the Compositae, the greatest of all 

 angiospermous families, not only in rank, but also in the num- 

 ber of species, although not much exceeding the Leguminosae 

 in this latter regard. There seems to be no question that the 

 Compositae represent the highest expression of the various de- 

 velopmental lines we have been tracing through the Angio- 

 sperms. This is shown not merely in their combination of 

 sympetaly, epigyny, and seed-like fruit, but also by such special 

 structures as the pappus and the syngenesious anthers, by the 

 complex organization of the head, the prevalence of diclinism, 

 the dimorphism of corollas, etc. 



