COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 



503 



Range: Eastern Massachusetts to east- 

 ern Pennsylvania. 



Habitat : Moist soil ; cultivated ground, 

 waste places. 



In England, whence this plant came, 

 it is a pest of wet meadows and is said 

 to be poisonous ; it is to be hoped that 

 its present restricted range in this 

 country may not enlarge. Scapes stout, 

 very scaly, six to eighteen inches tall. 

 Heads in crowded, racemose clusters, 

 each about a half-inch broad, on very 

 short pedicels, pinkish purple, fragrant, 

 the florets all tubular ; they are dioecious, 

 the staminate heads being smaller than 

 the fertile ones. Leaves appearing late, 

 often more than a foot broad when ma- 

 ture, rounded heart-shaped, thick, green 

 and smooth above, white-woolly be- 

 neath, irregularly but sharply toothed, 

 with stout petioles. (Fig. 349.) 



Means of control the same as for Tussilago. 



FIG. 349. Butterfly Dock 

 (Petasites vulgaris). X . 



FIREWEED, OR PILEWORT 

 Erechtltes hieracifolia, Raf. 



Native. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom: July to September. 



Seed-time: August to October. 



Range: Newfoundland to the Northwest Territory, southward to 



Florida, Louisiana, and Mexico. 

 Habitat: Woodland borders and recently cleared land, especially 



if burned over. 



Coarse plants, with a rank odor and juices most nauseous to 

 the taste. It is a medicinal herb for which collectors receive two 

 or three cents a pound, the whole plant being pulled and dried 

 just before bloom, in which process the leaves turn black. 



Stem two to eight feet tall, erect, smooth or only slightly hairy, 

 succulent, grooved, usually with ascending branches. Leaves 



