192 COMPOSITE 



it will thrive : the use thereof is very much both to warm and to comfort 

 and to ease paines, being applied outwardly after many fashions." He adds, 

 as do all the writers of that day, that the decoction of the flowers cures the 

 ague. The scent of the blossom is somewhat like that of the quince, or, as 

 some say, of the apple ; hence its name, signifying in Greek Grround Apple. 

 The plant, besides growing wild among the turf of most European countries, 

 is almost universally cultivated for sale. The French call it Camomille, the 

 Dutch and G-ermans Kamille, the Italians Camomilla, and the Spaniards 

 Manzanilla. This plant is not a native of America ; but Sir Charles Lyell, 

 in his work on the United States, remarks that he saw it growing all about 

 the neighbourhood of New Harmony, and adds, "Many European plants are 

 making their way here, and it is a most curious fact, which I afterwards 

 learned from Dr. Dale Owen, that when such foreigners are first naturalized, 

 they overrun the country with amazing rapidity, and are quite a nuisance ; 

 but they soon gi'ow scarce, and after eight or ten years are scarcely to be 

 met with at all." Probably this may prove to be eventually the case with 

 some of the weeds carried of late years into the Australian fields, and proving 

 so troublesome to the cultivator. Colonel Mundy says, " Many European 

 plants newly introduced for the gardens in Australia seem to be regularly 

 puzzled by the climate, and to be most singularly affected by it. They seem 

 to bud prematurely, and then remain stationary, as though Avaiting for a 

 safe opportunity of coming out. AVhen once expanded they are most 

 luxuriant, but one or two hours of southerly wind will so entirely blast the 

 blossoms and young shoots, that a newly-arrived English gardener would 

 suppose that his show of bloom was destroyed for the year. A change of 

 wind and a shower brings a regeneration more lovely than before ; and such 

 may occur half a dozen times ere the midsummer sun finally scorches the 

 poor exotics to tinder. Notwithstanding this, hoAvever, several of our wild 

 weeds, as the horehound, the sow-thistle, the thistle, and the poppy, have 

 established themselves in that country in great hixuriance and over wide 

 extents, and it remains for time to show whether in the course of years they 

 will become more or less abundant on the soil." 



2. Ox-eye Chamomile {A. finddria). — Stem much branched ; leaves 

 twice pinnatifid, downy beneath, serrated; receptacle hemispherical; fruit 

 four-sided ; annual. This species being often planted in gardens is fre- 

 quently, if not alwaj^s, an outcast from cultivated ground. It has been 

 found, though rarely, in fields and stony places, on the banks of the Tees 

 near Durham, and one or two other spots whence it has now disappeared. 

 The large flowers grow singly on long stalks, and both ray and disk are of a 

 golden yellow. The stem is one or two feet high and cottony, and the leaves 

 are rough or hairy above, and white with down beneath. The flowers 

 expand in July and August, and are in France gathered from the fields to 

 be used by dyers, as they yield a beautiful yellow tint. 



3. Corn Chamomile (A. arveiisis). — Stem upright, branched, and 

 downy ; leaves twice pinnatifid, segments slender, lanceolate ; receptacle 

 conical, its scales lanceolate ; fruit crowned with an entire ring ; bien- 

 nial. This plant is found, though rarely, on the borders of cultivated 

 fields both in England and Scotland. Its heads of flowers, which grow singly 



