72 WAYSIDE -WEEDS, 



usual fasMon. Its pistil extrtides from its centre 

 {Fig. 49, e) and tlie little stamens form a tube 

 round it. 



Botanically, these little central florets are called 

 the florets of the disk, in contradistinction to those 

 at the eircitmference, which are called the florets of 

 the ray (Fig. 49, c). These last, as you at once see, 

 are not regular, symmetrical flowers like those of 

 the disk, but are long and " strap-shaped." More- 

 over, they have a pistil of their own (Fig. 49,/), 

 ovary, and feathery calyx or "pappus," but no 

 stamens, their florets depending for their fertili- 

 zation upon the stamens of the disk, as well they 

 may. 



Now, this colt's-foot blossom is a most excellent 

 example of this tribe of plants, the Composites, 

 which, for all their appearance belied them, have, 

 you see, one-pieoed blossoms after all, only the 

 blossoms are collected into a close head or ccypitu-' 

 lum, instead of being spread over a stem or peduncle. 

 The part on which the florets are placed (Figs. 49, 

 h, and 50, 6), and which represents the peduncle, is 

 called in these plants the rec&ptaole ; and the green 

 envelope which represents the leaves of the pe- 

 duncle, or brads, is called the involucre (Figs. 49, h, 

 and 51, b). 



You must not run away with the idea, however, 

 that all our composite heads of flowers are exactly 

 similar to the colt^s-foot. In the daisy, in the rag- 



