Erigeron.'] SYNGENESIA — SUPERFLUA. 303 



flowers. This curious mode of growih occasioned the term of Herha 

 impia to be applied by the old Botanists to this plant, as if the offspring 

 were undutifully exalting itself above the parent. Scales of the involucre 

 yellowish, shining, very acute, submucronate. 



30. Petasi'tes. Desf. Butter-bnr. 



1. P. vulgaris, Desf. {commo7i Butter-bur); thyrsus dense ob- 

 long-, leaves cordate unequally toothed downy beneath, the lobes 

 approximate — Tussilago Petasites, Hoppe. — A. flowers sterile, 

 bearing- anthers, rarely seed. T. Petasites, L. — E. Bot. t. 431. 

 — B. flowers fertile, bearing seed, rarely stamens. T. hyhrida, 

 L. — E. Bot. t. 430. 



Wet meadows, to which it is very injurious, and river-sides. Fl. Apr. 

 May, before the leaves. 11,— Hoot extensively creeping, and thus multi- 

 plying the plant. Leaves very large. Floicers of a pale flesh colour, 

 smaller, more lax, and in a longer thyrsus on the fertile plant. The early 

 blossoming of this rank weed induces the Swedish farmers to plant it near 

 their bee-hives. Thus we see in our gardens the bees assembled on its af- 

 finities, P. alba andfragrans, at a season when scarcely any other flowers 

 are expanded. 



31. Tussilago. Li?m. Colt's-foot. 



1. T. Fdrfara, L. {Colt's-foot); scape single-flowered imbricat- 

 ed with scales, leaves cordate angular toothed downy beneath. 

 E. Bot. t. 429. 



Moist and clayey soils, too abundant. FL March, April, before the 

 leaves. 1/: . — Flowers yellow ; florets of the disk few. The down of the 

 leaves makes good tinder. The leaves themselves have been used medi- 

 cinally, as an infusion, or smoked like tobacco, for the relief of asthma. 

 Mr W. Wilson observes that the central tubular florets are barren, those 

 of the circumference generally fertile. 



32. ERfoERON. Linn. Flea-bane. 



1. ^.* Canadensis, L. (^Canada Flea-bane); hairy, leaves lan- 

 ceolate nearly entire, flowers numerous panicled. E. Bot. t. 2019. 



Waste and cultivated ground, in England, occasionally. Fl. Aug. 

 Sept. . — Floicers yellowish-white. 



2. E. deris, L. {blue Flea-bane); peduncles alternate (scarcely 

 •' racemose") single-flowered, pappus as long as the florets of the 

 ray, leaves lanceolate obtuse. E. Bot. t. 158. 



Dry gravelly or chalky pastures, walls, &c. Fl. Aug. "U 1 — 1 h foot 



high; whole plant scabrous, hispid, erect, panicled above and leafy; 

 flowers terminal, pedunculated from the axils of the leaves. Leaves be- 

 low tapering into a footstalk. Florets of the disk yellow ; of the ray, 

 ligulate, purplish. Pappus very long and tawny. 



3. E. alpinus, L. (alpine Flea-bane); stems with usually only 

 one flower, pappus much shorter than the florets of the ray, leaves 

 lanceolate. — a. stem 1 — 3-flowered, involucre hairy. E. alpinus, 



, L. — E. Bot. t. 464. — /3. stem single-flowered, calyx woolly. E. 

 unijiorus, L. — E. Bot. t. 2416. 



Highland mountains ; not common, except on the Breadalbane range. 



