II.] DAISY— CHRYSANTHEMUM 25 



flowers as these self-fertilisation would be almost un- 

 avoidable. In most cases, however, this is impossible, 

 because the stamens ripen before the stigmas. 



The position of the honey on the surface of a more 

 or less flat disc renders it much more accessible than 

 in those cases in which it is situated at the end of a 

 more or less long tube. . That of the Deadnettle, for 

 instance, is only accessible to certain humble-bees; 

 while H. Miiller has recorded no less than seventy- 

 three species of insects as visiting the common 

 Chervil, and some plants are frequented by even a 

 larger number. 



In the Composites, to which the common Daisy 

 and the Dandelion belong, the association of flowers 

 is carried so far, that a whole group of florets is ordi- 

 narily spoken of as one flower. Let us take, for 

 instance, the common Feverfew, or large white Daisy 

 {Chrysanthemum parthenium. Figs. 20 — 22). Each 

 head consists of an outer row of female florets, in 

 which the tubular corolla terminates on its outer side 

 in a white leaf-ovary, which serves to make the flower 

 more conspicuous, and thus to attract insects. The 

 central florets are tubular, and make up the central 

 yellow part of the flower-head. Each of these florets 

 contains a circle of stamens, the upper portions of 

 which are united at their edges and at the top 

 (Fig. 20), so as to form a tube, within which is the 

 pistil. The anthers open inwards, so as to shed the 

 pollen into this box, the lower part of which is formed 

 by the stigma, or upper part of the pistil. As the 

 latter elongates, it presses the pollen against the upper 

 part of the box, which at length is forced open, and 



