COMPOUND FLOWERS 193 



on long stalks, on a furrowed stem one or two feet high, expand from Juno 

 to August ; they are large, have a bright yellow convex disk and a white 

 ray, and the florets have always styles — a circumstance which distinguishes 

 this species from A. cotula. The flowers are scentless, and the leaves and 

 stem quite white with down. 



4. Sea Chamomile (A. dnglica). — Leaves pinnatifid, somewhat hairy, 

 lobes cut and serrated, acute, bristle-pointed, rather fleshy ; receptacle flat ; 

 fruit crowned with a very narrow entire border; perennial. This plant, 

 which was found in 1844 on the sea-coast at Sunderland, is a maritime 

 form of A. arvensis. Its stem is prostrate and branched, and, as well as its 

 involucre, downy. It bears, in July, flowers with a yellow disk and white 

 rays, the scales of the receptacle being shorter than the opened corollas. 



5. Stinking Chamomile (A. cMula). — Leaves twice pinnatifid, nearly 

 smooth, lobes linear, acute, mostly entire ; receptacle conical, its scales linear, 

 bristled ; pappus none ; rays without styles. The flowers of this species 

 grow singly on long terminal stalks, having a pale yellow convex disk, and 

 a white ray. The stem is from one to two feet in height, branched, angular, 

 and furrowed. It is a very common plant on waste places, banks, sea-beaches, 

 and heaths, and in the south of England is one of the most abundant weeds. 

 It is, however, unfrequent in some of the northern counties, and Dr. Johnston 

 says it is not to be found anywhere in the neighbourhood of Berwick-upon- 

 Tweed. Many a one in wandering through the corn-fields in July and 

 August has gathered it in expectation of finding the fragrant odour of the 

 Chamomile, and has thrown it from him in disgust, for few of our wild plants 

 emit a more off'ensive odour. It increases by seed with amazing rapidity, 

 and naturalizes itself most easily where, as in some parts of America, it has 

 been accidentally introduced. In our own land it will often so overrun the 

 corn-field as very seriously to disappoint the expectations which the farmer 

 forms of his crop. It has several country names, some of them relics of the 

 olden times, and too profane for record here, but Mather and Stinking 

 Mugwort are among those by which it is commonly called in country places. 

 It is said to be sometimes, notwithstanding its unpleasant odour, mingled 

 with the chamomile of commerce, but its properties are somewhat diflerent 

 from those of that plant, for the juice is very acrid, and blisters the hands of 

 reapers when gathering in the corn. It has, however, tonic properties, and 

 its powerfully bitter infusion is often taken medicinally. Bees certainly pass 

 by it when gathering honey, and it is said to be obnoxious to them and to 

 many other insects ; but Linnssus observed that it was grateful to toads. 

 Its flowers are much like those of the true Chamomile, but larger. Its seeds 

 have many warty angles, or rough points. The Hon. Mr. Curzon, when in 

 Armenia, saw a species of Chamomile {Anfhemis rosea aut carnea), the powder 

 of which instantly kills fleas and other insects, and which, he says, would be 

 invaluable to travellers in warm climates. The people call the plant 

 Fir4 oioii, and our author relates in a most amusing manner the miseries of 

 a little dog, which was subjected to the intrusion of a great number of fleas, 

 until one of the grooms, commiserating his condition, put himself to the 

 expense of a farthing in purchasing two good handfuls of the Fir<^ otou, the 

 effect of which was magical. In one minute every insect was destroyed, and, 



II.— 25 



