WHITE AND GREENISH WILD FLOWERS 



with an aromatic odour. Yarrow is found from coast 

 to coast and is one of our commonest wild flowers. 



MAY-WEED. FETID CAMOMILE. DOG-FENNEL 



Anthemis Cotula. Thistle Family. 



The pretty flowers of the May-weed bear a strong 

 resemblance to the Daisy and are very often mistaken 

 for it. They are much smaller, however, and the strong 

 unpleasant odour of the May-weed's foliage immedi- 

 ately betrays it. Camomile tea, brewed from its leaves, 

 was frequently administered for several bodily ailments 

 in olden times. In California it is dried, powdered, and 

 used for relieving colic. The fresh leaves are bruised 

 and applied externally for producing blisters. The 

 much-branched, smooth, annual stalk grows one or 

 two feet in height and is very leafy and slender. The 

 alternating leaf is so finely cut and divided that it is 

 little short of a fringe, or as if it were simply the ribs 

 and veinings of a leaf rather than a complete forma- 

 tion. It is somewhat coarse but has the appearance of 

 delicacy. The flower is Daisy-like. The yellow disc 

 florets are closely packed in a central, button-like head 

 which is surrounded with a flaring circle of from ten 

 to eighteen oblong, white, grooved, and notched ray 

 flowers. The latter close abruptly downward against 

 the stalk at night The numerous flower heads are 

 an inch broad. As the disc flowers mature, the yellow 

 centre becomes cone-shaped and chaffy. The flowers, 

 which are set in little green cups, terminate the branches. 

 It is common from June to November along roadsides, 



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