COMPOUND FLO WEES 135 



jiiicc, that its name of Milk-thistle is not inappropriate. Many a raml^le by 

 field border and sunny bank does the schoolboy take to gather a basket of 

 soft juicy " Milkies " for his rabbit ; while the timid wild hare will creep 

 through garden hedge, before its owner has waked up to the dawn, and will 

 there take a breakfast on the Sow-thistle. Horses are not fond of the plant ; 

 but it is eaten by sheep and goats, and is so favourite a food with swine, that 

 their preference is indicated not alone by our familiar name, but by that of some 

 other European lands. The Germans call it Saudistd, and also Hasenkohl ; the 

 French term the plant Xe Laiteron; the Italians, Sonco ; the Spaniards, Cerraja; 

 the Dutch, Haazenlatuw ; and it is known by the Russian peasant as the 

 Tschistotel. It is common not only in Europe, but in some parts of Africa ; 

 and Kalm says it grows wild near every farmhouse at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and is used by the people there in making salves. It has also become 

 a very frequent plant in New Zealand, either this or the Corn species flourish- 

 ing in abundance, with docks and poppies, among the fields of waving corn 

 — little welcomed by the farmer who is intent on cultivating that fertile soil, 

 though doubtless often, as Colonel Mundy says, reminding the traveller very 

 pleasantly of "weedy, seedy Old England." Remarking on the luxuriant 

 growth of several British Aveeds, as the docks and chickweeds, which adorn 

 the roadsides, this author says : " I rather think Cook found the Sow- 

 thistle here. At any rate, this humble weed is in New Zealand pro- 

 moted to an esculent, the Maoris making of it a sort of salad." He adds 

 that it is invaluable to the birds, especially to the parrot tribes, hundreds of 

 which, " of beauteous dyes but odious accents," he saw fluttering and feeding 

 on its filmy tops. 



This Sow-thistle has similar properties to the succory and dandelion. Its 

 leaves are much eaten by the peasantry of France and Germany, as salad, 

 and are in many countries of Europe boiled for the table. It is said that, 

 prepared in the way of spinach, they furnish a dish of vegetables superior to 

 any green plant in common use. 



4. Sharp-fringed Annual Sow-thistle (aS*. dsper). — Leaves undivided 

 or pinnatifid, sharply toothed, clasping, with rounded ears ; fruit ribbed 

 lengthwise, smooth ; stem branched ; heads of flowers somewhat umbellate ; 

 involucres smooth ; root annual. This plant is probably a variety or sub- 

 species of the common Sow-thistle, which it much resembles in its general 

 appearance. It differs chiefly in having more crisped leaves, and in its fruit 

 being destitute of wrinkles. Its stem is two or three feet high, and its flowers, 

 which expand during the summer months, are yellow. It occurs, also, in 

 gardens, fields, and waste places. 



10. Hawk's-beard (C'rdjm). 



]. Smooth Hawk's-beard (C. virens). — Leaves smooth, pinnatifid, 

 with the lobes pointing backwards, the upper ones narrow, arrow-shaped at 

 the base, and clasping the stem, remotely toothed, and with flat margins ; 

 fruit shorter than the pappus, oblong, with smooth ribs ; root annual. This 

 plant bears numerous little yellow heads, about half an inch across, from July 

 to September, and is very common on waste ground or tbe QQttage roof. It 



