134 



IJ.OWERS OF THK CORMIl.LDS 



Corn Marigold (Chrysanthemum sei^ctuni, L.) 



In s])iie of its being addicted to ctiltivated ground, and its sus|)ici()us 

 status as a native, Corn Marigold is lound in Neolithic beds near Edin- 

 burgh. Its present distriljution is Europe, North Africa, and Western 

 Asia. It is n(H fouml in Hunts or Stirling in Great Britain, but 

 everywhere else. It was regarded as a colonist by Watson. 



The Corn Marigold is 

 entirely a cornfield plant, 

 being rarely found elsewhere 

 except as an escape from 

 such cultivated districts, 

 occasional!)- coming up in 

 allotments and gardens and 

 on waste ground. It is usu- 

 ally to be found on high 

 14 round on dr\', sand)", or 

 loam) hills. 



A tield studded with 

 Corn Marigolds in llower is 

 a sight to be remembered. 

 It is a tall, branched plant, 

 with an erect, woody stem, 

 .smooth, shiny, and rather 

 bluish-green. The leaves are 

 linear or oblong, narrowly 

 elliptic, stalked, egg-shaped 

 abo\e, not downy, notched, 

 toothed ; the stem-leaves are 

 alternate, stalklcss, hall- 

 clasping the stem, oblong or egg-shaped above, with few teeth. 



The flowerheads are golden-yellow (both disk and ray florets) and 

 stalked, terminal, solitary, large, with leaf-like organs, with blunt, outer 

 membranous margin, brown in colour. The first Greek name refers to 

 the yellow colour of the flower. Small wart-like knobs occur on the 

 upper sides of the corolla segments in the disk and in the ray. 



This handsome plant is aliout iS in. to 2 ft. high. Flowers are 



to be seen in June and July. It is an annual, propagated by seeds. 



The flowers are large and conspicuous, of a deep golden yellow, 



both rav and disk florets, the former female, the latter bisexual. But 



Corn Marigold (Chrysanlhemum segetum, L.) 



