HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



They are, in reality, many small flowers, called florets, united 

 in a compact head called a disk, upon a flat or conical 

 receptacle, either with or without petal - like rays circled 

 around them, all with a calyx-like involucre of green bracts 

 underneath. The disk of the daisy contains from 200 to 500 

 florets. Examined under the magnifying- glass, each floret 

 is seen to have its own tiny calyx, whose tube is joined to 

 a 1 -celled ovary in which is found a single, dry seed, an 

 achene. The top of the calyx takes different forms, a knowl- 

 edge of which is of use in classifying the flower. In the 

 daisy it is abruptly cut off; in the chicory it is cup-shaped; 

 in the sunflower, a pair of rabbit-like ears; in the sneeze- 

 weed, 5 scales; in the thistle, tufts of fine hairs; in the 

 dandelion, such tufts raised on a long handle, like a dust- 

 brush. These developments of the calyx -top are called 

 pappus. A single bract grows outside the calyx called 

 chaff. The corolla is tubular, divided into 5 points at the 

 summit. The anthers of the five stamens form a ring, on 

 the inside of wmich they open, discharging their pollen on 

 a pistil yet unripe. This with its two-cleft style and stigma, 

 as it grows and elongates, carries the pollen with it. The 

 insect, hovering and crawling over the florets, collects the 

 pollen on its body, conducts it to other flowers whose pistils 

 happen to be ripe, thus bringing about cross-pollination. 



The Composites are divided into Tubuliflorae, or those 

 with all tubular florets; and Liguliflorae, those with strap- 

 shaped florets. In many of the first there are ray flowers 

 arranged along the margin, which, upon examination, will 

 be found to contain a pistil only, or to have neither pistil 

 nor stamens. The daisy is one of the Tubuliflorae. 



The strap-shaped florets have flat corollas, as if the tubes 

 were slit open, in the disk, and no ray flowers. The dande- 

 lion is an example. 



Explanation of Terms Used in Describing Flowers 



Every perfect flower contains four sets of organs, arranged 

 in circles at the top of the flower stem or axis. At the center 

 a pistil stands. Often there are several pistils. This organ 

 consists of three parts, ovary, style, and stigma. The ovary 

 is a small sac at the base of the pistil in which ovules grow, 

 (rudimentary seeds). The style is a slender, hollow tube 



