230 COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 



soft hairs. Erect and coarse annuals, of a rank smell, with alternate simple 

 leaves, and paniculate-corymbed heads of whitish flowers. (The ancient name 

 of some species of Groundsel, probably called after Erechtheus.} 



1. E. hicracifolia, Raf. (FIREWEED.) Often hairy ; stem grooved; 

 leaves lanceolate or oblong, acute, cut-toothed, sessile ; the upper often with an 

 auricled clasping base. (Senecio hieracifolius, Z/.) Moist woods; common, 

 especially northward, and in recent clearings, where the ground has been burned 

 over ; whence the popular name. July - Sept. Plant 1 - 5 high, with some- 

 what the aspect of a Sow-thistle. 



62. CACAL.IA, L. INDIAN PLANTAIN. 



Heads 5 - many-flowered ; the flowers all tubular and perfect. Scales of the 

 involucre in a single row, with a few bractlets at the base. Receptacle naked. 

 Corolla deeply 5-cleft. Achenia oblong, smooth. Pappus of numerous capil- 

 lary bristles. Smooth and tall perennial herbs, with alternate often pctioled 

 leaves, and rather large heads in flat corymbs. Flowers white or whitish. (An 

 ancient name, of uncertain meaning.) 



# Involucre 25 - 3Q-Jlowei-ed, with several bracts at its base : recejrtacle flat. 



1. C. Sliaveolcns, L. Stem grooved (3 -5 high); leaves triangular- 

 lanceolate, halberd-shaped, pointed, serrate, those of the stem on winged petioles. 

 Rich woods, Connecticut to Wisconsin and Kentucky. Sept. 



* * Involucre 5-leaved and 5-flowered, its bracts minute or none : receptacle bearing a 

 more or leas evident scale-like pointed appendage in the centre. 



2. C. retiiformis, Muhl. (GREAT INDIAN PLANTAIN.) Stem (4- 

 9 high) grooved and angled ; leaves green both sides, dilated fan-sHaprd, or the low- 

 est kidney-form (1 29 broad), repand-toothed and angled, palmatcly veined, pcti- 

 oled; the teeth pointed ; corymbs large. Rich damp woods, Pcnn. to Illinois, 

 and southward along the mountains. Aug. 



3. C. atrfplicifolia, L. (PALE INDIAN PLANTAIN.) Stem tereto 

 (3 6 high), and with the palmately veined and anqulate-lobrd Ir-aves glaucous; 

 lower leaves triangular-kidncy-form or slightly heart-shaped ; the upper rhom- 

 boid or wedge-form, toothed. Rich woodlands, W. New York to Wisconsin, and 

 southward. Aug. 



4. C. tuberosa, Nutt. (TUBEROUS INDIAN PLANTAIN.) Stem angled 

 and grooved (2 -6 high), from a thick or tuberous root; leaves green both sides, 

 thick, strongly 5 -7 -nerved; the lower lance-ovate or oval, nearly entire, tapering 

 into long petioles; the upper on short margined petioles, sometimes toothed 

 at the apex. Wet prairies, &c., Ohio to Wisconsin, and southward. June. 



63. SENECIO, L. GROUNDSEL. 



Heads many-flowered ; the flowers all perfect and tubular, or mostly with the 

 marginal ones radiate ; the rays pistillate. Scales of the involucre in a single 

 row, or with a few bractlets at the base. Receptacle flat, naked. Pappus of 

 numerous very soft and slender capillary bristles. Herbs, in the United States, 



