Should any reader who has not previously made a study of botany, but who has followed us thus far, be asked to name the order to which the Scabious belongs, he would almost certainly say the CompositÆ. He would be wrong, but almost right. Scabious is certainly a Composite flower, though not one of the CompositÆ; it is, instead, included in the order DipsaceÆ. We have already made the acquaintance of so many composite flowers that our readers may be presumed to be fairly familiar with their general structure. It will be remembered, then, that the anthers of Composites are all joined together to form a tube: in DipsaceÆ they are free. Again, the calyx in CompositÆ is reduced to a series of hairs (pappus), whilst in DipsaceÆ there is a distinct tubular calyx invested in a separate involucel (or little involucre) of tiny bracts, quite independent of the common involucre that invests the whole head of florets.
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