46 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 
floret is a little oval, white body, which is the 
baby fruit, and around each floret a circle of silky 
hairs, the reminiscence of an ancestral calyx. After 
the yellow corolla has withered away, these hairs 
Bur-marigold calyx, Orange hawkweed 
altered into prongs. calyx, altered into 
Groundsel calyx, altered into (From Yearbook, bristles. (From Year-» 
down. (From the Vegetable Department of book, Department of 
World.) Agriculture, 1896.) Agriculture, 1896.) 
Fic. 5.—Some altered calyces of composite flowers. 
remain at the post of duty, for they have still a 
task to fulfil in the plant’s economy. They are 
to aid the wind in distributing the little dry fruits 
—not seeds—which develop after the disappearance 
of the yellow florets. 
For the word ‘“‘fruit’’ to the public at large 
suggests a juicy edible, with a rich or delicate 
color, and with, generally, a pleasant taste. But 
‘“‘fruit’’ to the botanist means whatever comes as 
the normal result of the fertilization of a flower. 
It may be a tiny brown object unadorned, desic- 
cated, and quite destitute of gastronomic interest. 
The little freights of the dandelion blow-aways, 
