COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 



507 



The weed springs from rather shallow and fibrous roots, from 

 which a few short, thick rootstocks are extended. Stem two to 

 three feet tall, erect, stiff, grooved, very leafy, and branching at 

 the top. Leaves dark green, deeply twice pinnatifid, the terminal 

 segment largest, particularly of the lower 

 leaves, which are six to eight inches long 

 .and petioled; stem-leaves more slender, 

 smaller, and sessile. Flowers in large, 

 many-headed, branching, flat-topped clus- 

 ters, very showy and handsome. Heads 

 golden yellow, nearly an inch broad, with 

 twelve to fifteen wedge-shaped rays, toothed 

 at their tips. Both rays and disk-florets 

 are fertile. Achenes light yellow, grooved, 

 oblong, those of the disk-florets bristly 

 and straight, those of the rays smooth and 

 curved. Pappus very copious, white, and 

 silky. 



Means of control 



All plants in infested meadows should be 

 pulled or grubbed out while in their earliest 

 bloom, before the hay is harvested. Plants 

 in pastures, in waste places, and on road- 

 sides should be closely cut, piled, and 

 burned before any seed has matured to be 

 sown by the wind about the countryside, 

 cultivated crops would cleanse infested 

 perennial roots and its dormant seeds. 



FIG. 352. Stinking 

 Willie (Senecio Jacobcea). 



A short rotation of 

 ground of both its 



GOLDEN RAGWORT 



Senecio aiireus, L. 



Other English names: Squaw Weed, Life Root, False Valerian, 



Grundy Swallow. 



Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds and by rootstocks. 

 Time of bloom: May to July. 

 Seed-time: June to August. 



