THE COMPOSITOUS TRIBES 179 



organs. The tube -like base, and especially the 

 abortive ovary or seed, show that it is morpho- 

 logically a flower, but it is neutral! That is, there 

 are some members which bear every evidence of 

 being modified flowers which have no stamens or 

 pistils and which, therefore, are functionally not 

 flowers at all; but they may answer the purpose 

 of the petals of simple flowers in attracting insects. 



202a. Neutral flowers are frequent in the composites. Examine 

 the sunflowers, cosmos, and coreopsis (or calliopsis of gardens). In 

 other kinds of plants, neutral flowers may be found in the snow- 

 balls and hydrangeas. 



203. These showy florets make a corolla- like rim 

 about the head, like the rays about the sun. In 

 all composites, therefore, these marginal flowers, 

 when present, are known as rays or ray flowers. 



204. One of the interior brown flowers is shown 

 at B. This has no ray, but, instead, the corolla 

 is symmetrically five -toothed (6), and the stamens 

 (c) and styles {d) are present. These rayless florets 

 are known as the disc florets, and a head which 

 has no ray flowers is said to be discoid. But 

 plants like the dandelion have no disc florets, for 

 we have seen that all the florets in the head are 

 ray -form or strap -shaped. 



20ia. In some composites, the ray florets are perfect and in 

 some pistillate; and in a number of kinds the rays are the only 

 perfect-flowered and seed-bearing florets in the head. It is seen, 

 therefore, that even compositous heads may ^e androgynous. 



