Addisonia 39 



(Plate 140) 



EUPATORIUM COELESTINUM 

 Mist-flower 



Native oj eastern United States and Cuba 



Family Carduaceas ThistIvE Family 



Eupatorium coelestinum L. Sp. PI. 838. 1753. 

 Conoclinium coelestinum DC. Prodr. 5: 135. 1836. 



A perennial branching herb, one to three feet high. The stems 

 are more or less pubescent, red to brown-tinged, and bear opposite, 

 petioled leaves. The leaf-blades are truncate or narrowed into the 

 petiole at the base, acute at the apex, crenate-dentate on the 

 margin, and about half as long as wide. The flowers are in compact 

 cymes, few in each head. The broadly campanulate involucres 

 have linear-lanceolate, acuminate bracts in one or two series, green 

 at the bases and brownish at the tips. The corollas are regular, 

 with slender tubes and five-lobed limbs, the lobes being intensely 

 colored ageratum-blue. The anthers are inconspicuous, but the 

 branches of the style are elongate, brightly colored, and give a 

 misty appearance to the inflorescence. The achenes are five-sided, 

 and bear several capillary bristles. The receptacles are distinctly 

 conic. 



This American plant was found in the early days of this country's 

 botanical history in the mountains of Virginia by Pursh, in the 

 Carolinas by Fraser, and on the banks of the Ohio River by Rafin- 

 esque. Its introduction to cultivation seems not to be recorded. 

 Differing from other species of Eupatorium in having a conic 

 receptacle, it has been placed in a separate genus, Conoclinium, 

 but is retained as a Eupatorium by most authors. It resembles 

 the ageratums of our gardens, and is often referred to as the peren- 

 nial ageratum. 



The place of the mist-flower in horticulture is in the hardy 

 border, where its delicate light-blue flowers blend well with others 

 of its season. Blooming in August, it comes in time to be used 

 with our phloxes and other hardy native plants, which are lacking 

 in blue colors, and can also possibly be grown to advantage in 

 shady places with its relative the white snakeroot, Eupatorium 

 urticaefolium. Propagation is effected by division of the roots 

 in fall or spring, and by seeds. 



