asteracese

[From the typical genus aster (q. v.).] Botany : *1. Formerly: An order, the fourth of five arranged under the alliance Compos itæ, or Aster a les, the others being Calyceracea, Mutisiaceæ, Cichoraceæ, Asteraceæ, and Cynaracese. These, excluding Cynaracere, constitute the Compos itæ proper. The term Asteraceæ in this sense is called also Corymb i fere (Lindley: Nat . Syst . Bot., 2nd ed., 1836), and comprehends the larger portion of the modern Tubulifloræ. 2. Now : A vast order, comprising the whole of the Compos itæ proper. [See No. 1.) It is placed by Lindley, in his Vegetable Kingdom (1846), as the last order of his Campana les, or Camp anal Alliance. The English equivalent term for it is Composites. It includes plants like the daisy, the thistle, the dandelion, and others, po e ing what, to a superficial observer, appears like a calyx, but is in reality an involucre, surrounding a receptacle on which are situated not, as might as first sight appear, numerous petals, but many florets. Their calyxes very frequently take the form of pappus; the corollas are tubular, ligulate, or both; the stamina, four or five, syngenesious, that is, united by the anthers into a tube; their style simple; and the ovaries single, one-celled, with a solitary erect ovule. In 1846, Lindley estimated the known species at 9,000, placed in 1,005 genera. They are believed to constitute about one-tenth of the whole vegetable kingdom. They are everywhere diffused, but in different proportions in different countries; thus they constitute one seventh of the flowering plants of France, and half those of tropical America. The order is divided into three sub-orders: I. Tubulifloræ; II. Lab i at i floræ; and III. Ligulifloræ. are bitter. For more specific information regarding their qualities, see the sub-orders and some of the genera. All