THE TIirSTLK FAMILY. ^.^5 



but it makes one that must be cut down very often. In the far west there is 

 now known to be one or more native species of Acliilk-a. 



BROAD=LEAVED IRON-WEED. 



Verjibtiia glaiica. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



riiistle. Magenta. SccntUss. Louisiau.i ami ]-lori,la AtnimtSffif,,, ., 



to I'ennsylvania. 



Flo7ver-hcads \ growing on.slender peduncles in loose cvmose |)aniclcs. /. 



iicre: campanulate, with pointed, ovate bracts. F/imwrs : all alike, tuhular, ihc-ir 

 corollas five-cleft. Pappus : straw-colour, of both bristles and scales. Leavn : 

 alternate, obovate or broadly oval, sessile, or the lower ones with short 

 margined petioles ; sharply and coarsely serrate, paler beneath than above ; thin, 

 smooth, or finely pubescent along the underveins. S/i-m : tw(j to five feet hi^h ; 

 erect ; branched ; smooth. 



When white carrots whiten the fields, and daisies cloud the landscape, and 

 boneset and yarrows and golden asters are everywhere; then one may know 

 that the day of the great order Compositas has come and that triumphantly 

 they will wave until bitten down by the early frosts of winter. In the 

 autumn they spread their warm brilliant colours, harmonising well with the 

 changes that are taking place in the tree-tops, and boldly, lavishly— for there 

 is nothing mean about them — they cover the often bare spots of the earth. 

 Among them all none is more vividly coloured than are the iron-weeds with 

 their heads of magenta flowers shaped somewhat like miniature thistles. So 

 high they grow sometimes that a man cannot reach their summits. The 

 broad-leaved one stays mostly in the woods, while others grow best in 

 moist, low grounds, or follow roadside banks. 



V.gi'g-antea, tall iron-weed, attains not infrequently the great height of ten 

 feet, a truly wild fiower. During August and September, in different parts 

 of North Carolina I saw it towering over many things, or being just on a 

 level with the tallest Joe Pye weeds. Its tlower-heads are small, but pro- 

 duced most abundantly, and show in fruiting time a magenta or magenta- 

 brown pappus. The leaves are lanceolate, fuiely serrate, also deep green on 

 both sides. 



V. No7>eborachtsis, flat top, or iron-weed, grows sometimes nearly as tall 

 as Vernonia gigantea and is the more commonly known species of the 

 mountain region. Early in July it begins to show the brilliant magenta 

 colouring of its tubular flowers. The bracts of the involucre are dull pur- 

 plish and are tipped with slender points suggestive of a fringe. Through 

 moist soil and along the banks of rivers, it is of all the coiiiposites one of the 

 most conspicuous. 



