COMPOSITE FAMILY 



are, in every Fleabane community others of the genus, 

 especially the Philadelphia Fleabane, an earlier and 

 more beautiful form, which in June sometimes takes 

 possession of a field on its own account. The two 

 are very similar in general appearance ; the distinction 

 between them Kes chiefly in leaves and stems. 



The ugly English name is due to the popular 

 beUef that the leaves will drive away fleas, which, of 

 course, they will not do. 



DEVIL'S PAINT BRUSH. ORANGE HAWKWEED. 

 GRIM, THE COLLIER 



Hierdcium aurantidcum 



Named from the Greek hierax, a hawk, because of the 

 ancient belief that hawks sharpened their sight by feed- 

 ing upon them. 



Perennial. A very destructive weed, forming close 

 patches of thick-set leaves, and in midsummer sending 

 up a flowering stem which bears several orange-red 

 flower-heads. In fields and woodsides. Naturalized 

 from Europe, and now found from New Brunswick and 

 Ontario to New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and 

 rarely in Ohio. June-September. 



Stem. — Six to ten inches high, slender, hairy, either 

 leafless or with one or two small sessile leaves near the 

 base. 



Leaves. — Spatulate or oblong, hairy, obtuse at apex, 

 entire or slightly toothed, narrowed at base, two to 

 four inches long; growing in tufts. 



Flower-heads. — Ligulate-composite, all ray-florets. 



Heads borne on short peduncles in terminal clusters, 



three-fourths to an inch across, orange-red rays. Bracts 



of involucre linear-lanceolate, hairy, sometimes glandular. 



240 



