364 COMPOSITE. 



well distinguished by the above character. From this 

 curious mode of growth, the plant was called by the old 

 botanists Herba impia (the undutiful herb), as if the 

 young shoots were guilty of disrespect by overtopping 

 the parent. Fl. June, July. Annual. 



2. F. minima (Least Filago). Stem erect, repeatedly 

 forked ; leaves very narrow, cottony, pressed to the 

 stem ; heads conical, in lateral and terminal clusters, 

 shorter than the leaves. Dry gravelly places, common. 

 Yet smaller than the last, growing 4 6 inches high, 

 with cottony stems and leaves, and brownish-yellow 

 flowers. Fl. July, August. Annual. 



* A third species of Fildgo (F. Gdllica) occurs in 

 several parts of England and Scotland, and differs from 

 the last in bearing leaves much longer than the flowers. 



31. PETASITES (Butter-Bur). 



1. P. vulgdris (Common Butter- Bur). The only 

 British species. Marshy meadows, not unfrequent. 

 The largest, and where it abounds, the most pernicious, 

 of all the weeds which this country produces. The 

 flowers, which are of a dull lilac colour, appear early in 

 spring, and are succeeded by downy, kidney-shaped 

 leaves, 1 3 feet in diameter, which by shading the 

 ground check the growth of all other plants. " The 

 early blossoming of this rank weed induces the Swedish 

 farmers to plant it near their bee-hives. Thus we see 

 in our gardens the bees assembled on its affinities, P. 

 alba and P. fragrans, at a season when scarcely any 

 other flowers are expanded. "-?- Hooker and Arnott. 

 These two last species are common in shrubberies, almost 

 hiding the ground with their broad leaves, thriving 

 beneath the shade of trees and shrubs, but overpowering 

 all herbaceous plants, and eventually, it is said, even 

 the shrubs themselves. Fl. April, May. Perennial. 



