COMPOSITE FAMILY 



short-petioled; the upper sessile and slightly clasping. 

 Petioles often narrowly winged. 



Flower-heads.— Discoid-composite, that is, all tubular, 

 rose-purple, about an inch across. The outer row of 

 florets are sterile and the margins deeply cut into five 

 long, narrow, twisting segments; the inner rows are 

 fertile, slightly swollen, and the borders with shorter 

 lobes. Involucre ovoid, hard; bracts imbricate, each 

 one tipped with a minute, reddish spine, fringed with 

 tiny, white spinelets. There is no pappus. 



The Star-Thistle probably came by way of ballast 

 and so far has not strayed very far inland. The heads 

 possess a charm at first difficult to explain, but prob- 

 ably due to the fluffy and twisted segments of the outer 

 florets. 



PURPLE EUPATORIUM. TALL EUPATORIUM. 

 JOE-PYE WEED 



Eupatdrium purpureum 



Eupatoruim, of a noble father; said to be named for 

 Mithridates. 



Perennial. Native. A tall, vigorous, leafy plant, 

 standing three to ten feet high, conspicuous in low wet 

 places, along open streams, and in swampy fields, bear- 

 ing large compound clusters of pale, dull pink flowers. 

 New Brunswick to Manitoba, south to Florida and 

 Texas. August, September. 



Roots. — Woody, fibrous. 



Stems. — Three to ten feet high, stout, green or purplish, 

 leafy, usually branching toward the top. 



Leaves. — Three to six, though usually four in a whorl, 

 petioled, ovate-lanceolate, serrate, acute or acuminate, 

 very veiny, veins depressed above, conspicuous beneath. 

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