393 COMPOSITE. Achillea. 



31. ACHILLEA. Linn. ; Less. syn. p. 250. YARROW. 



[So named because its virtues are said to have been first discovered by Achilles, a disciple of Chiron.] 



Heads many-flowered ; the rays few or 10 - 20, pistillate, short. Scales of the involucre 

 imbricated. Receptacle small, usually flat, chafiy. Achenia oblong, obcompressed, mar- 

 gined, without a pappus. — Perennial herbs, with alternate mostly pinnately divided leaves 

 and small corymbose heads. 



(j. Millefolium, Tourn. Involucre ovoid-oblong : rays few and short : receptacle small : achenia 



slightly margined. 



1. Achillea Millefolium, Linn. Common Yarrow. 



Cauline leaves nearly sessile, bipinnatifid ; the lobes linear, 3 - 5-cIeft, mucronate ; corymb 

 compound, fastigiate ; rays 4-5, obovate. — Linn. sp. 2. p. 898 ; Engl. hot. t. 578 ; Pursh, 

 fl. 2. p. 563 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 405 ; Bigel.fl. Bost. p. 315 ; Beck, hot. p. 212 ; Hook. fl. Bor.- 

 Am. 2. p. 489 ; Darlingt.fl. Cest. p. 489 ; DC. prodr. 6. p. 24 ; Torr. ^ Gr.fl. N. Am. 2. 

 p. 409, 



Stem erect, sulcate, hairy, commonly simple, 1^-3 feet high. Leaves 2-4 inches long, 

 cut into very numerous narrow segments, more or less hairy ; the radical ones petioled. Heads 

 crowded. Scales of the involucre lanceolate-oblong, with the midrib very prominent. Rays 

 usually white, but sometimes pale rose-color. 



Dry pastures, fields and road-sides ; very common. July - October. Introduced from 

 Europe. This plant has long been employed medicinally as a tonic and astringent. It is 

 also made into an ointment, and used for dressing wounds. 



Div. 2. Chrysantheme^e, DC. Receptacle naked. Heads radiate ; the rays ligulate, pistillate, 

 rarely neutral, in a single series {rarely wanting) ; the disk-flowers perfect. 



32. LEUCANTHEMUM. Tourn.; DC. prodr. 6. p. 45. ox-eye daisy. 



[ From the Greek, leukos, white, and anVtemen, a flovyer ; the color of the blossoms.] 



Heads many-flowered ; the rays pistillate, numerous : disk-flowers perfect, with a fleshy 

 obcompressed somewhat 2-winged tube. Involucre broad ; the scales imbricated, scarious 

 on the margin. Receptacle flat or convex, naked. Achenia of the disk and ray simileu-, 

 somewhat terete, striate, without a pappus ; or those of the ray sometimes crowned with a 

 short pappus. — Perennial herbs, with alternate mostly toothed or pinnatifid leaves, and 

 large solitary head terminating the stem or branches. Rays white or rarely rose-color : 

 disk yellow. 



