74 



■WAYSIDE WEEDS'. 



into tribes, whereof the lettuces, dandelion, hawk- 

 weed, etc., belong to one, the thistles and burdocks 

 to another, the daisy, ragwort, colt^s-foot, and many 

 another to the third. 



We have already alluded to .the peculiar form 

 which the oalyx-^not the invollicre, remember — '■ 

 assumes in the composite family; feathery in a 



Fi^. 51, — Back view of blossom of conmion Hfiwkweed. a, strap-shldped florets 

 of ray j b, bracts, oosstituting the common ioralucre ; c, peduncle ; d, scale. 



greater or less degree, as famiHar to us all, in thistle- 

 down, and in the dandelion parachute, and botani- 

 cally called the pappus, it remains after the floret 

 has withered and fallen off, and iintil the ripened 

 seed calls for its aid to transport it far from the 

 parent plant. Something more of this aerial seed- 

 sowing may we learn if we give careful attention to 



