ACHILLE'A SPECIO'SA. 



SPEAR-LEAVED MILFOIL. 



Class. Order. 



SYNGENESIA. POLYGAM1A SUPERFLUA. 



Natural Order. 



CORYMBIFERE.S. 



No. 44. 



The name Achillea is deduced from Achilles, 

 the famous Grecian hero, whose strength and 

 prowess form so conspicuous a character in the 

 Iliad. Clad in armour, impenetrable and resplen- 

 dent, Homer compares him with the sun : 



" Not brighter, Phoebus in th' ethereal way, 

 Flames from his chariot and restores the day '* 



Speciosa, from the Latin, handsome. Many of 

 the plants now coming- under the denomination of 

 Milfoil, do not possess the character which this 

 name seems to have been first intended to indicate; 

 the Latin Millefolium, being compounded of Milb, 

 a thousand, and folium, a leaf; and used to cha- 

 racterize some of these plants, which have very 

 numerous pinnae or leaflets. 



The flowers of this Achillea are, probably, not 

 so showy and attractive as the florist may be led 

 to expect from its appellation of Speciosa. The 

 plant, however, is of handsome upright growth, 

 and its serrated foliage particularly neat. In very 

 light soils it sometimes spreads too freely ; there- 

 fore is of easy culture, and admits a division of its 

 roots at the usual season. 



