GOMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 439 



the plants at the appearance of its first bloom, rather than that the 

 ground should be fouled for as long as it is kept in clover or grass. 

 Sheep prefer White-top to good hay. After the crop is harvested, 

 turn in the flock and they will graze down the tufts of winter crown- 

 leaves. Fields rankly infested are best treated by plowing under 

 for winter wheat or a cultivated crop, to be followed by a clean 

 reseeding. 



SLENDER WHITE-TOP 

 Erigeron ramosus, BSP. 



Native. Annual or winter annual. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom : May to November. 



Seed-time: June to December. 



Range: Nova Scotia to the Northwest Territory, southward to 



Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. 

 Habitat: Fields, meadows, roadsides, and waste places. 



Similar to the preceding species and often growing in its com- 

 pany, but smaller, the slender stem one to three feet tall, the 

 clothing hairs appressed instead of spreading. Basal leaves oblong 

 to spatulate, toothed, and narrowed to petioles, the stem leaves 

 lance-shaped to linear, mostly entire, and sessile. Heads smaller, 

 with even thinner and more thread-like white rays ; bracts of the 

 involucre nearly linear, scarious-margined, acute. Achenes re- 

 semble those of the preceding species. 



Means of control the same as for Tall White-top. 



CANADA FLEABANE 



Erigeron canadensis, L. 

 (Leptilon canadense, Britton) 



Other English names: Horseweed, Bitterweed, Prideweed, Mare's- 



tail, Blood-stanch. 



Native. Annual and winter annual. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom : June to October. 

 Seed-time: July to November. 



Range: Throughout North America except the extreme North. 

 Habitat: Grain fields, meadows, pastures, and waste places. 



From this plant is distilled the volatile oil of fleabane, used in 

 making "mosquito dope" for the use of persons who have occa- 



