MARSH RAGWORT 



Senecio Palustris (L.) Hook. 

 THISTLE FAMILY 



The March Ragwort belongs to the great family of the 

 which numbers over ten thousand species in all parts 

 of the earth. In Western Canada, beginning in early Spring 

 with the sweet coltsfoot, the family increases in importance as 

 the season advances until late in Summer the sunflowers, daisies, 

 asters, goldenrods, and other members of the family quite dom- 

 inate the floral world. 



The flowers differ from those of other families being borne 

 many together in a compact head surrounded by bracts. In 

 this subdivision of the family the flowers are of two kinds, the 

 di>k f Ion-is, small, tubular, and crowded, in the centre; and the 

 ray florets, more or less strap-shaped and spreading outward to 

 form a kind of aureole. On account of its great size the Russian 

 sunflower is a good composite to study first. 



Coming back to the March Ragwort, we notice that it is a 

 stout, hairy plant. The stems are eight to forty inches high, 

 the bigger ones as thick as a broom handle. All are hollow, 

 with no cross partitions from just above the root to the flower 

 brandies. The outside of the grooved stem and the veins of 

 the wavy-edred leaves are often thickly covered with white 

 cobwebby hairs which, seen through a hand lens, look as if spun 

 from clear glass. The intlorcscncc is at first compact, but soon 

 opens out in a rather raided way. The disks are yellowish, and 

 the short broad rays are li<rht yellow. After flowering, the heads 

 turn down and remain in that position until the seed is ripe, 

 when they straighten up again. As with many other members 

 of the family, each seed is furnished with a tuft of white hair 

 that acts as a parachute to float it away on the breeze. 





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