20 WOODLAND IDYLS. 



What common names many of our more 

 abundant weeds do have prefixed to them. 

 Iron-, rag-, dog-, hog-, hawk-, horse-, May-, pig-, 

 are but examples. Of these the iron- and May- 

 weeds are most handsome. The others men- 

 tioned, except one, are best known for their 

 abundance in and about cultivated grounds. 

 The exception is the hawkweed 10 above noted as 

 blooming by my side. It flourishes best on 

 shaded slopes of old pastures where the grass 

 is thin. A dozen or more nominal and closely 

 allied kinds there are in this country, each with 

 a rosette of spoon-shaped hairy leaves close to 

 the ground. From this springs the slender stem 

 a foot or two high, usually with distant alter- 

 nate leaves upon whose shape and degree of 

 hairiness the species are principally based. At 

 the top of the stem is a loose panicle or corymb 

 of flowers in compound heads with yellow rays. 

 Members of the great Compositae family are 

 they and common in their chosen habitat. Sel- 

 dom noted except by the botanist they add their 

 mite of color to many a pasture during the 

 August and September days. Just before me 

 I see a score or more glinting in the sunshine 

 from above the scattered stems of wire-grass in 

 the midst of which they delight to flourish. 



This wire-grass, 11 growing in abundance along 



10 Hieracium scabrum Michx. n Juncus tenuis Willd. 



