Geo. In a windy day I have seen the air all full of thistle-down.
Tut. Very likely: and for 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. These, and the other plants that have been named, belong to a very extensive class, which it is worth while being acquainted with. They are called the compound-flowered plants.
Geo. Will you be so good as to give us a lecture about them?
Tut. With all my heart. Get me a dandelion in flower, a thistle-head, and a daisy—if you cannot find a common daisy, one of the great ox-eye daisies in the corn will do as well.
Geo. and Har. Here they are.
Tut. 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 on each other like the tiles of a house.
Geo. I see it.
Tut. The florets are not all alike 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 tubular 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 singly. Can you discern their chives and pointals?
Geo. I can.
Tut. You may remark that there are five chives to each, the tips of which unite into a tube, through which the pointal passes, having its summit doubled, and curled back.