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.