WEEDS OF MAINE. 257 



Receptacle flat, with littlo pits or cells like a honeycomb (alveolate.) Pappus of capil- 

 lary bristles. 



Mostly perennials ; flowering' in autumn, with white, purple, or 

 blue rays, and yellow disk flowers. Frost weed, Aster puniceus, 

 is a native plant, growing in swales and meadows. It has a stout 

 and much branched stem, four to six feet high ; the branches, 

 especially on the sunny side, generally dark purplish ; the flowers 

 are abundant and showy, with blue rays. It is called frost weed 

 from the fact that it is often seen in full bloom after severe frosts. 

 There are about twenty species of Asters known to be natives of 

 Maine. Many of these are merely worthless weeds, abundant in 

 thin sterile soil, and may be readily eradicated by cultivation ; 

 while many others are well worth introducing into flower gardens 

 for their beauty. 



47. Horse-weed. Butter-weed — Erigeron Canadense. Annual. Stem six inches to 

 five feet high. Leaves narrow, one to three inches long. Heads very numerous, small. 

 Rays inconspicuous. Flowers white. 



A native plant common in pastures and waste places, worthless 

 and comparatively harmless. " It has disseminated itself more or 

 less abundantly all over our country, and it is said all over Europe. 

 * *« * Good farming is the mode for smothering out such intru- 

 ders." ' — ( Darlington. ) 



48. Daisy. -Fleabane — Erigeron strigosum. A well known bien- 

 nial weed with rather small heads, furnished with numerous narrow, 

 white rays. Common in grassy fields and by the roadside. The 

 fleabane is particularly abundant in the first crop of upland 

 meadows after a series of grain crops. Formerly the fleabane had 

 the reputation of expelling fleas and insects by its smell. The- 

 Daisy-Fleabane or Sweet Scabious {Erigeron annuum), is found 

 common with E. strigosum. They are both equally worthless and 

 unwelcome weeds. 



49. GoLDENBODS — Solidago. Perennial herbs. Stems erect, generally branching near 

 the top. ieaues alternate. Heads few to many flowered, interminal or axillary racemes. 

 FloiOers, with one exception, yellow. Ray-florets few, pistillate ; dish-florrts tubular and 

 perfect. 



The genus Solidago is very large, affording many worthless 

 weeds. They bloom from August to October, and are the charac- 

 teristic flowers of autumn. The name solidago is derived from the 

 Latin word solidare, signifying to unite, in allusion to reputed vul- 

 nerary qualities. S. bicolor is quite a common species, remarkable 

 for having white or cream-colored rays. 



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