436 



COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 



FIG. 302. Purple- 



rather short pedicels, each about an inch 

 broad, with light yellow disk and many 

 pale purple or lilac rays ; bracts of the 

 involucre usually in two rows, linear, 

 smooth, green, spreading. Achenes hairy, 

 the long, tufted pappus nearly white. 

 This weed is in bloom so early that 

 flowering stems are often cut with hay, 

 and seeds ripen on the stalks. (Fig. 

 302.) 



Means of control 



Deprive the plant of its loved mois- 

 ture by better drainage. Prevent seed 

 production and starve the perennial roots 

 by frequent close cutting, and so fertilize, 



stemmed Aster (Aster pu- cultivate, and improve the ground that 



niceus). X J. 



better plants will supersede the weed. 



ROBIN'S PLANTAIN 



Erlgeron pulchellus, Michx. 



Other English names: Blue Spring Daisy, Poor Robin, Rose Petty. 



Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds and off-sets. 



Time of bloom: April to June. 



Seed-time: May to July. 



Range: Nova Scotia to Ontario and Minnesota, southward to 



Florida and Louisiana. 

 Habitat: Hillsides, woodland borders, moist banks. 



Stems slender, simple, softly hairy, ten to twenty inches tall. 

 Base-leaves tufted, spatulate or long obovate, obtuse, softly hairy 

 on both sides, with a few shallow teeth, and tapering to short- 

 margined petioles ; stem-leaves small, distant, narrow-ovate to 

 lance-shaped, sessile or partly clasping, usually entire. Heads few, 

 in a terminal cluster, each an inch or more broad, with many 

 narrow purple rays varying from pale lilac to deep violet;, disk 

 broad and flat, greenish yellow, its florets perfect. Achenes 

 flattened, nearly smooth, with pappus of a single row of fine hairs. 



