COMPOSITE FAMILY. 187 



aromatic bitter, and deservedly popular as a tonic medicine, for which 

 purpose it is generally cultivated. It is an old and still prevalent opin- 

 ion, that this plant thrives better for being trampled upon or kept pros- 

 trate, whence it was popularly called " the Whig Plant " during the rev- 

 olutionary contest in the United States. The notion is thus incident- 

 ally alluded to by SHAKSPEARE, in the first part of his King Henry IV. 

 "For though the Camomile, the more it is trodden on the faster it 

 grows yet youth, the more it is wasted the sooner it wears." This is 

 said to be naturalized in Delaware ; another species is quite common 

 about New 5Tork, A. arven'sis, L., which has the leaves less divided and 

 the chaff of the receptacle pointed. 



16. ACHILLE'A, L. YAKROW. 



[Named after Achilles, who first used the plant.] 



Heads many- or several-flowered ; rays few and short, pistillate ; tube of 

 the disk-florets obcompressed. Involucre ovoid-oblong, the scales imbri- 

 cated, unequal. Receptacle flat or sometimes elongated, chaffy. Akenes 

 oblong, obcompressed, somewhat margined, destitute of pappus. Pe- 

 rennial herbs. Leaves alternate, mostly pinnatifid. Heads small, co- 

 rymbose. 



1. A Millefo'lium, L. Stem mostly simple; leaves bipinnately dis- 

 sected, the segments linear, incised-serrate, acute ; corymb compound, 

 fastigiate ; rays about 5, roundish-obovate. 



THOUSAND-LEAF ACHILLEA. Yarrow. Milfoil. 



Fr. La Millefeuille. Germ. Die Scafgarbe. Span. Milenrama. 



Stem 2-3 feet high hairy and somewhat lanuginous, mostly simple, corymbose at sum- 

 mit. Leaves 2 or 3-6 inches long (the radical ones still longer), nearly sessile, much and 

 finely dissected. .Heads small, numerous, in a dense terminal fastigiate corymb; rays 

 white or often tinged with purple, creuate-dentate at apex ; disk-florets whitish, the tube 

 sprinkled with resinous particles. Akenes obcompressed, slightly margined near the sum- 

 mit, smooth. Receptacle small, flat ; chaff lance-oblong, acute. 



Pastures, fence-rows, &c : throughout the United States : introduced. Native, of 

 Europe. Fl. June -Sept. Fr. Aug. - October. 



Obs. This foreigner has become completely naturalized. It is an 

 aromatic bitter, and somewhat astringent, quite popular as a tonic. 

 The English agricultural writers speak of it as a plant of some value, 

 in their pastures ; but I believe it is universally regarded here as a mere 

 weed. Certainly it is far inferior to our usual pasture plants, and I 

 think our cattle rarely eat it. Another species, A. Ptarmica, L. (Sneeze- 

 wort,) is naturalized in some places. It differs from the above in hav- 

 ing simple, lance-linear, and sharply serrate leaves, and has much more 

 conspicuous rays. 



