COMPOSITE FAMILY 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: waste ground and fields. 



THE PLANT: erect, one foot high and more; the stem nearly 

 simple, sometimes reddish at the base. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; lyrate-pinnatifid or the uppermost 

 lanceolate; the terminal part commonly larger and tri- 

 angular; four inches to ten inches long; clasping by ear- 

 shaped or arrow-shaped base; the margins slightly round- 

 toothed, with bristly or scarcely spiny teeth, or those of 

 the uppermost leaves entire. 



THE FLOWER HEADS: several or numerous; involucre 

 hairless. 



THE FRUIT: achenes; pappus of soft, white bristles, which 

 usually fall away, connected sometimes with one or two 

 stouter ones which fall separately. 



This is a coarse and weedy plant, yet somewhat deco- 

 rative, with a stout, hollow, and succulent stem and dark 

 green leaves, \vhich like those of a thistle have prickly 

 edges. The pale yellow flower-heads, too, are shaped 

 like a thistle's. 



In Europe the plant is used as a pot-herb. It is kept 

 succulent by constant pinching of the flower heads. 



COMPOSITE COMPOSITE FAMILY 



Hieracium canadense, Michx. 



Yellow Canadian Hawkwced. 



July-October 



Hieracium: Greek for hawk. 

 Canadense: Latin for Canadian. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil of the Commons. 



THE PLANT: erect, one foot high and taller; the stem 

 sparingly branched, leafy, practically hairless, or with a 

 few, short, soft ones. 



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