COMPOUND FLOWERS. 213 plants furnished with the same winged, or feathered, pceds. ff, O yes; there are groundsel, and ragwort, and thistles. C. Ina windy day, I Lave seen the air all full of thistle-down. “. Very likely; and fer that reason you never saw a new-made bank of earth, or a heap of dung in the fields, but it was presently covered with thistles. hese, and the other plants that have been named, belong to a very extensive class, which it is worth while to be acquainted with. They are called the compound- jiowered plants. G. Will you be so good as to give us a lecture about them ? Z. With all my heart. Get me a dandelion in flower, a thistle-head, and a daisy. If you cannot find a conunon daisy, one of the great ox-eye daisies in the corn wil do as well. G. and H. Were they are. “. Very well. All these are compound flowers ; for, if you will examine them narrowly, you will perceive that they consist of a number of little flowers, or florets, enclosed in a common cup, which cup is made of a number of scales lying upon each other like the tiles of a house. G. I see 1. 7. The florets are not all anke in shape. In the dandelion, you will observe that they consist of a tube, from which, at its upper end, proceeds a sort of strap- shaped tongue, or fillet : in the thistle, they are tudular, or funnel-shaped, throughout: in the daisy, the centre ones which form the disk, as it is called, are tubular, while those in the circumference have a broad strap on one side, which altogether compose the rays of the flowers; whence this sort are called radiated. Now take the glass and examine the florets singiv. Can you discern their chives and pointals # G, - can.