178 THE LADIES' FLOWER-GAEDEN 
colour from a dark piirple to pink, and even white. It is said to be a native of the East Indies, but it was sent 
here from Spain before 1629. It is a biennial, and new plants should be raised every year from seed sown in 
May, and transplanted in autumn to flower the following year. 
OTHER SPECIES OF SCABIOUS. 
These are very numerous ; but they are so rarely seen in British gardens, that it is only necessary to 
describe two or three of the most common. 
S. WEBBIANA, D. Dm, Bot. Reg. t. 717. 
A small-flowered plant, of no beauty ; a native of Mount Ida, introduced in 1819. 
S. SUCCISA, Lin. 
A British plant, called the Devil's Bit, from the singular appearance of its main root, which looks as though 
tlie end had been bitten ofi'. 
S. OCHROLEUCA, Dec. 
A well-known and very handsome garden species, with cream-coloured flowers : a native of Germany, 
introduced in 1597. 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
COMPOSITE. 
OiiARACTEB OF THE OaDEtt. — Limb of cslyx wanting or membra- 
naceous, or divided into bristles, palea;, or hairs. Corolla five-toothed 
or five-lobed, tubular, ligulate, or bilabiate, inserted on the top of the 
ovarium. Stamens five, distinct, perigynous. Anthers combined, 
seldom free. Ovarium adhering to the tube of the calyx, one-celled, 
one-seeded. Style one. Stigmas two. Fruit an acbenium crowned 
by the limb of tho calyx. Albumen none. Usually herbs, rarely 
shrubs. Leaves exstipulate. Flowers disposed in heads ou a recep- 
tacle, or surrounded by au involucrum, the scales of which are some- 
times mixed with the fiowers, and are then called paleae. (G. Don.) 
Description, &c. — The Compositaa are so natural an order, that any person who has seen a daisy will know 
the greater part of them at first sight ; that is to say, all that have the florets of the ray ligulate, and those of 
the disk tubular. The thistle-headed plants form another easily-recognised section, as their florets are all 
tubular; and the succory-headed plants, the florets of which are all ligulate, form another division. The 
Compositae are generally free-growing, hardy plants, which require very little culture. 
GENUS I. 
ASTER, Lin. THE ASTER, OR STARWORT. 
Lin.Syst. SYNGENESIA SUPERFLUA. 
Generic Character. — Fl oweraofthe ray ligulate, female ; those of [ volucral scales in three or four series ; spreading and ciliated. Fruit 
the disk hermaphrodite, tubular. Receptacle rather convex. In- | obovate, compressed. Pappus double, deciduous. 
Desceiption, &c. — The small-flowered perennial plants included in this genus are well known as Michaelmas 
Daisies, and as giving a lively appearance to the flower-garden in autumn. The genus Aster is a very extensive 
one ; and though modern botanists have made nearly twenty new genera out of it, they have still left a hundred 
species remaining in it. Nearly all the species are very ornamental, and well deserving of cultivation in a 
flower-garden. 
