206 FLOWERS OF THE ROADSIDES AND HEDGES 



Scnecio is a Latin name for the Groundsel, a congener, from its 

 resemblance to a bald head (senex, an old man). The second Latin 

 name means hoary-leaved. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



1 66. Senecio erucifolius, L. Stem tall, erect, hoary, purple, leaves 

 pinnatifid, segments linear, downy beneath, margin revolute, flower- 

 heads yellow, ray florets large, in dense corymb, ribs of fruit silky. 



Nipplewort (Lapsana communis, L.) 



Every hedgerow has its complement of Nipplewort, growing in 

 rows, and it is evident that it is truly native, for it is found in Pre- 

 glacial beds in Suffolk, Interglacial beds in Sussex, and Neolithic beds 

 at Edinburgh. It is found only in the North Temperate and Arctic 

 Zones, at the present day, in Arctic Europe, North Africa, N. and W. 

 Asia eastwards to the Himalayas, and in North America it is an intro- 

 duction. Nipplewort is generally common throughout Great Britain 

 as far north as the Orkneys, and it ascends in Northumberland to a 

 height of 1300 ft. It is native in Ireland and the Channel Isles. 



It is a plant of waste ground, growing in a clump under walls 

 and outbuildings or in other sheltered corners. But it is also a very 

 common weed along roadside hedges, where it forms quite an avenue 

 for long distances. It is similarly common in fields and meadows, but 

 almost always sheltered by the hedge. 



Nipplewort has an erect, rigid, branched, or closely-clustered stem, 

 with stiff hairs below, nearly smooth, and finely furrowed. The leaves 

 are opposite, lance-shaped, egg-shaped, stalked, with one or two pairs 

 of leaflets, the terminal segment large, egg-shaped, and the lower leaves 

 have a terminal large leaflet and paired lobes below. 



The small yellow flowers are barely longer than the involucre or 

 whorl of leaf-like organs, which is angular, and are borne on slender 

 flower-stalks in terminal panicles, and the bracts or leaf-like organs are 

 awl-shaped. The achenes are incurved without pappus or hair, con- 

 tained within the involucre. 



Nipplewort is usually at least 18 in. in height. The flowers bloom 

 in June and July and continue later. The plant is annual, and pro- 

 pagated by seed. 



There are 8-17 flowers in the capitulum or head, and the disk is 

 8-10 mm. wide. The tube is iJ-2^ mm., and the limb 46 mm. long. 

 The heads are solitary and small and not conspicuous, so that insect 

 visits are few. In their absence the plant is effectually self-pollinated. 



