THE 

 COEN SOW-THISTLE. 



Sonchus arrensis. Nat: Ord., 

 Composites. 



KE the poppy, the corn-mari- 

 gold, and the blue-bottle, the 

 corn sow-thistle is one of the 

 characteristic plants of culti- 

 vation, and may frequently be 

 met with in cornfields almost 

 throughout the whole of Britain. 

 The plant is a perennial, and 

 may be found in flower during 

 August and September. Our 

 readers will be careful to bear 

 in mind the broad distinction 

 between a perennial plant and 

 what is popularly called an 

 evergreen. The corn sow-thistle 

 is the former, but certainly not 

 the latter, as it is the root- 

 stock only in this and in so 

 many other plants that survives 

 from year to year. Each year new shoots arise, blossom, 

 scatter their seed, and decay, leaving no apparent trace 

 behind them of their existence. 



The present species is the Sonckus arvensis. The 



