434 SYNGENESIA— POLYGAM.-SUPERF. Senecio. 



in both editions of Sp. PL, though with wrong synonyms, is evi- 

 dently distinct from this species, appearing to be S. lividus, ra- 

 ther than sylvaticus, to which latter it is referred in Engl. Bot. 

 p. 574. 



7. S. Jacobcta, Common Ragwort. 



Rays spreading, oblong, toothed. Leaves doubly pinnati- 

 fid, somewhat lyrate, with spreading, toothed, smooth 

 segments. Stem erect. Seeds of the disk silky. 



S. Jacobfea. Linn. Sp. PL 1219. Willd. v. 3. 1 997. FL Br. 885. 

 EngLBot.v, \6.t. WSO. Mart. Rust. t. 85. Ilook. Scot. 244. 



S. n. 62, a, jS, y. HaU. Hist. v. 1 . 26. 



S. major, sive Flos Sancti Jacobi. Matth. Valgr.v.2.477 .f. Carrier. 

 Epit. 870.f. Dalech. Hist. 575./. 576./. 



Jacobsea. Ger. Em. 280./. Lob. Ic. 227./. 



J, vulgaris. Raii Sijn. 177. Buuh. Hist. v. 2. 1057./. 



Sancti Jacobi herba. Fuchs. Hist. 742./ Brunf. Herb. v. 2. b6.f. 



Flos Sancti Jacobi. Trag. Hist. 287. f. 



Common Ragwort. Petiv. H. Brit.t. 17. f. 1. 



In pastures, waste ground, and by road sides, very common. 



Perennial. July, August. 



Root rather fleshy. Herb for the most part quite smooth, of a deep 

 shining green, sustaining uninjured the greatest drought, and 

 most scorching heat, at least of our temperate climate. Stem 

 upright, branched in a corymbose manner, about the height of 

 the last, but rather more bushy, striated. Leaves alternate 3 

 lower ones stalked, broad, doubly pinnatifid, with wedge-shaped, 

 spreading, notched, toothed segments ; upper less compound, 

 sessile, more acute, their lower segments crowded and clasping 

 the stem. Fl. numerous, bright yellow, facing the sun, in ter- 

 minal corymbose panicles, whose stalks are more or less cot- 

 tony. Calyx nearly hemispherical, its scales tipped with black. 

 Disk of many tubular florets j radius of several linear ligulate 

 ones, toothed at the end, rolled back and tawny in decay. Seeds 

 of the disk thickly clothed with short silky hairs ; those of the 

 radius smooth. Down of all rough. 



The herbage is fetid when bruised, and generally remains un- 

 touched by cattle whilst any thing else is to be had, though often 

 devoured entirely by the black- and yellow-ringed caterpillars of 

 Phalana Jacobcea. It has been recommended as an application 

 for cancers, by the name of Swine's Cresses, which it bears in 

 Yorkshire. 



Sherard observed that the radius is sometimes wanting in sandy 

 situations. The Rev. Mr. Holme found between Clayhithe and 

 Horningsea, Cambridgeshire, a very extraordinary variety, in 

 which the calyx-scales and bracteas are multiplied excessively, 

 the radius obliterated, and the tumid disk apparently a mass of 

 confusion. 



