216 COMPOSITE. [Artemisia. 



3. A. Absin'thium, L. ; leaves silky on both surfaces, segments oblong 

 obtuse, heads drooping silky, outer flowers only fertile. Wormwood. 



Waste places, local, from Shetland southd. ; ascends (cultivated) to 2,200 ft. 

 in Northumbd. ; rare in N. and W. Scotland ; Ireland, native ? ; Channel 

 Islands; fl. Aug.-Sept. — Perennial, very aromatic, silkily pubescent. Stems 

 1-3 ft., ascending, grooved and angled. Leaves 1-2 in., dotted, 2-3-pin- 

 natifid ; segments many, spreading. Heads hemispheric, subsessile, in 

 panicled leafy racemes, yellow ; receptacle hairy. Ray-corollas dilated 

 below.— Distrib. Europe, N. Africa, N. and W. Asia, Himalaya, N. America. 

 — Aromatic, vermifuge, aad used to flavour drinks. 



4. A. marit'ima, L. ; leaves white and woolly beneath, segments linear 

 obtuse, heads erect or drooping cottony, flowers all fertile. 



Salt marshes and ditches, rare in Scotland, from Wigton and Aberdeen southd. : 

 N.E. Ireland ; Channel Islands ; fl. Aug.-Sept. — Woolly or hoary, scarcely 

 aromatic. Rootstock woody, branched. Stem 10-18 in., ascending. Leaves 

 1-2 in., 2-pinuatifid; segments many, very narrow, spreading. Heads 

 crowded in short erect panicled spikes, reddish, narrow oblong ; receptacle 

 glabrous. — Distrib. Coasts of Europe and salt tracts of Asia, India. — 

 A. gallica, Willd., is not distinguishable as a well-marked variety, either by 

 its more compact habit or erect heads. 



19. PETASI'TES, Toumcf. BUTTER-BUR. 



Perennial herbs. Leaves produced after the flowers, large, broad. Heads 

 purplish or white, subdicecious, in a spiciform panicle terminating an erect 

 bracteate scape ; male heads with a few fern. ; ray-fl., female with a few 

 males in the disk ; in vol. bracts sub-2- seriate, outer few, small ; recep- 

 tacle flat, naked. Male fl. Corolla bell-shaped, 5-cleft ; anther-cells 

 simple ; style stout (arms connate), ovoid or clavate, papillose, terminated 

 by 2 short small cones. Female fl. Corolla filiform, mouth oblique, 

 minutely toothed ; style much exserted, arms short. Fruit cylindric, 

 glabrous ; pappus of female copious, hairs soft slender (of male scanty). 

 — Distrib. Europe, N. Asia, Arctic America ; species about 12. — Etym. 

 veraffos, an umbrella, from the size of the foliage. 



P. vulga'ris, Desf. ; leaves reniform or orbicular-cordate irregularly 



toothed. Tussilago Pctasites, L., and T. hybrida, L. 



Wet meadows and roadsides, N. to Shetland, but local; ascends to 1,000 ft. in 

 Northumbd. ; Ireland ; fl. March-May. — Rootstock extensively creeping, 

 fleshy, stout. Leaves 3 in.-3 ft. diam., white or cobwebby beneath, young 

 above also ; petiole long, stout. Stem 4—18 in., stout, purplish below ; sheaths 

 ending in small leaves. Panicle cylindric, 3-10 in., female longest, elongating 

 after flowering ; pedicels slender, shortest in the male ; bracts on pedicels 

 subulate. Male heads §, female § in. Fruit striate ; pappus white. — Distrib. 

 Europe, N. Africa, N. and W. Asia. 



20. TUSSILA'GO, Tourncf. Coltsfoot. 



A scapigerous herb, rootstock creeping. Leaves large, produced after 

 the flowers. Heads yellow, solitary, many-fld. ; invol. bracts 1-seriate, 



