86 ERIGERON BELLIDIFOLIUM. POOR ROBINS PLANTAIN, 



plants. We see that the mere accident of some general appear- 

 ance in the flower led some botanists into calling that species 

 " Blue Flea-bane ;" and our botanists, with far less excuse, left 

 the " Blue " off, and gave the common name of the Coiiyza, Flea- 

 bane, to the whole genus Erigcron. So far as the writer of 

 this can learn, the name of " Flea-bane " was never used by 

 the people of the United States for these plants until it was 

 employed in botanical works, and very rarely if at all now, 

 which renders the introduction of the misleading name into our 

 literature the more unpardonable. Even the common name 

 for this species, "Poor Robin's Plantain," has been modified 

 by botanists in various ways. Sims, in the " Botanical Magazine," 

 many years ago, figured it, and says : " It grows from North 

 Carolina to Canada, where it is known as 'Poor Robin's 

 Plantain.'" Dr. Gray, in "School Botany," cuts it down to 

 "Robin's Plantain," Prof. Wood to "Robins' Plantain," and Dr. 

 Darlington "Poor Robert's Plantain." The origin of the com- 

 mon name is not clear; but if ever the occasion should arise 

 to make an investigation important, the student would prob- 

 ably be misled by these careless alterations in the orthography 

 of the names. 



The specific name, bdlidifoliiim, was suggested by Dr. Muh- 

 lenberg in a letter to Willdenow, who adopted It in the de- 

 scription of the plant in his " Species Plantarum." It signifies 

 having a leaf like the BclHs peirnnis or English daisy, though 

 there is no very close resemblance. The best that can be said 

 is that it is perhaps more nearly like the leaf of that popular 

 English flower than the leaves of other species are. A 

 peculiarity of the genus Erigcrou is to have a large number of 

 ray florets, and in this respect the whole family has a resemblance 

 to the daisy, and our present species may carry the association 

 closer to this great national favorite, because like it the earliest 

 spring meets its opening flowers. It is the first of all the Ameri- 

 can Erigcroiis to bloom. We may say of it as Burns said to his 

 " Mountain daisy: " 



