COMPOSITE FLOWERS. 207 



find all the Thistles, Saw-worts (Serratiila), and Blue 

 Bottles (Centaurea) ; it is also remarkable for con- 

 taining the Artichoke (Cynara Scolymus), the bottom 

 of which you have probably often eaten %Wthout 

 thinking much about Botany. The next time you 

 have one on the table, remember that the scales, 

 which you suck are the involucre, the bottom is the 

 receptacle, and the choke, which is thrown away, is 

 a collection of florets, separated fi'om each other by 

 numerous stiff hairs, growing out of the receptacle. 



The third section has heads composed of both sorts 

 of florets ; tubular ones in the disk, and ligulate ones 

 in the ray; hence they are called Radiate (Cor}Tn- 

 biferae). It sometimes happens that these have no ray, 

 and then the young- student might naturallv confound 

 them with the Thistle-headed section ; but this need 

 not be done if you remark that the florets of the Thistle- 

 headed section are very wide in the mouth, and spread 

 over the sides of the involucre, the scales of which are 

 usually hard and spiny, while the florets of the Radiate 

 section are narrow in the mouth, and not longer than 

 the scales of the involucre, which are usually soft and 

 leafy. A very little practice wall soon prevent your 

 falling into any such error. By far the gi'cater part 

 of Composite flowers belong to the Radiate section ; 

 Sunflowers, Asters, Daisies (Bellis), Chrysanthemums, 

 Marigolds, Wormwood (Artemisia), Cudweed (Gnapha- 

 lium), Coltsfoot (Tussilago), Groundsel (Senecio) and 

 Chamomile (Anthemis), with thousands of others, for 

 this section is of prodigious extent, form a most strik- 

 ing feature in the vegetable kingdom. 



