174 



THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. 



142. VERBESINA ALTERNIFOLIA L. Winged Iron-weed. Yellow Iron-weed. 



Actinomeris. (P. N. 2.) 



Stem slender, simple or branched near the top, winged by the down- 

 ward extensions of the leaf margins, 4-9 feet high; leaves alternate or 

 the lower opposite, oblong or lanceolate, pointed, toothed or entire, rough- 

 ish both sides, sessile or short-stalked. Heads numerous in an open 

 terminal cluster, 1-2 inches broad; receptacle convex, chaffy; involucre 

 of a few lanceolate, deflexed bracts; disk globose, yellow; rays 2-10, 

 yellow, drooping, 1 incli long. Achenes wedge-shaped, flattened, broadly 

 winged; pappus of 2 diverging awns. (Fig. 133.) 



Common in the rich moist soil of lowland pastures and along 



the borders of streams. Aug.-Sept. 

 Easily known by its winged stem, pale 

 yellow rays, and loose arrangement of 

 the achenes in the ripening heads. 

 Spreading both by seeds and perennial 

 roots, it often forms dense patches. 

 The 30 or more loosely bunched disk- 

 flowers are larger than those of most 

 Composite and have an odor neither 

 very strong nor pleasing, resembling 

 somewhat that of the sunflower. It 

 furnishes the yellow, the iron-weed the 

 purple, and the everlasting the creamy 



white of a trinity of color which en- 

 Fig. 133. Winged fruit with awns; disk ,. . _ 

 and ray-flowers on right. (After Britton livens in August the lowlands of many 



a woodland pasture. Remedies: same 

 as for iron-weed. 



143. BIDENS L/EVIS L. Larger Bur-marigold. Brook Sunflower. (A. 



N. 2.) 



Stem erect or ascending, glabrous, branched, 1-2 feet high ; leaves 

 opposite, sessile, lanceolate, toothed, pointed, sometimes united at base 

 about the stem. Heads numerous, short-stalked, erect, 1-2 inches broad; 

 involucre cup-shaped, its outer bracts linear or oblong, longer than the 

 ovate inner ones; rays 8-10, showy, golden yellow, 1 inch long. Achenes 

 wedge-shaped, both their margins and the 2-4 slender, stiff awns of pap- 

 pus downwardly barbed. 



Very common in low grounds about swamps, marshes, borders 

 of brooks and ditches. July-Oct. Associated with it, almost as 

 common and probably only a variety, is the smaller or nodding 

 bur-marigold (B. cernua L.) having the heads nodding after flower- 

 ing and the rays shorter, sometimes wanting. Both belong to the 

 group having the achenes called "beggar-ticks" or "pitch-forks" 



