COMROSITES. 6h 
(e.) Examine the common Dandelion. (Taraxacum dake 
leonis). Note that the whole plant 18° full of white are y. 
juice (latex*), that all its leaves are radical and. in ee: ae 
pinnatitid form called runcinate,} in which all the lobes are 
somewhat acute and directed a little | 
downwards. The flower-heads are not 
produced in compound inflorescences 
(panicles, corymbs, &c.), as in so many 
of the other composites referred to, but 
éach is solitary on the apex of a hollow 
peduncle, or scape} (~ name given to 
any peduncle which springs directly from 
the top of the rootstock). Hach head 
has a double row of inyolucral bracts, 
the outer smaller and recurved, the inner 
erect. The receptacle is flat, and covered 
with little pit-hke hollows, in each of 
which stands a lieulate ¥ floret. All the 
florets are of the one 
type, and, though the | 
inner ones may appear Fie. 106. Runcinate 
to be tubular, you will Teatel biol endo hii 
see that this is only be- (one-third nat. size). 
cause they have not ! : 
opened. In all of them the pappus is pro- 
duced like a parachute on the apex of a long 
Stalk, which is produced from the top of the 
Fig. 107. Fruit ovary. This stalk is only a prolongation of 
of Dandelion. the calyx-limb. Note the Spiny ridges on 
the achene. ; 
Compare this plant with any of the following :— 
Chicory (Céchoriwm), Cat’s-ear or so-called Cape-weed (Hypocheris), 
Hawk’s-beard (Crepis), Lettuce (Lactuca), Nipplewort (Lapsana), or 
Sow-thistle (Sonehs). All of these are mare or less common through- 
out New Zealand, 
The garden Scabious, or Pineushion Flower, which is 1ieérly allied 
to the composites, is worth examination. It is very like a composite, 
having its florets crowded into an involucrate capitulum, while its calyx- 
tube is produced into a kind of cup-shaped pappus bearing several bristles 
at its angles. But each floraét has 4 free (not syngenesious) stamens, and 
the one-celled ovary bears a pendulous albuminous ovule. 
14. Coprosma, sv. 
A large number of species of this genus are found in New 
Zealand. While some are small trees with shining foliage; 
the majority are shrubs of various sizes: (oiten very scrubby; 
* Lat. latex, a liquid, 
t Lat. runcina, a large saw, - . 
- $ Gr. skapos, a stalk _* 
