Early August 



of the yarrow so perfectly simulate sepa- 

 rate flowers that this plant is less readily 

 identified as a Composite. 



Huddled in hollows by the roadside are 

 the tall stout stalks, clasping woolly leaves, 

 and great yellow disks of the elecampane, 

 another Composite. Still another, which 

 is never found far from the highway, is 

 the chicory, the charm of whose sky-blue 

 flowers is somewhat decreased by the be- 

 draggled appearance of the rest of the 

 plant. 



Every true-born American ought to 

 recognize the opposite, widely spreading 

 leaves, and dull, whitish flower-clusters 

 of the boneset, a plant which cured, or 

 which was supposed to cure, so many of 

 the ailments of our forefathers. Even to- 

 day the country children eye it ruefully as 

 it hangs in long dried bunches in the attic, 

 waiting to be brewed at the slightest warn- 

 ing into a singularly nauseating draught. 



Nearly related to the boneset proper 

 106 



