498 . THE THISTLE FAMILY. 



Early in August it begins to unfold great masses of pinkish crimson flowers 

 and raises them on a stem which, when well located in some warm, moist 

 place, grows perhaps ten feet high, the principal leaves on the stem being in 

 whorles of usually six, giving it a pronounced symmetrical look. They 

 are long ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, thin and nearly smooth. Near the top 

 of the stem, however, they often occur opposite to each other. The name 

 Joe Pye, long associated with this plant, is in commemoration of an Indian 

 doctor who travelled through New England and was reputed to cure typhus 

 fever through its use. 



E. capillifblium, hog-weed, or dog-fennel, bears but little casual resem- 

 blance to the foregoing species. On its stem the leaves are crowded in 

 alternate positions and are pinnately divided into thread-like segments. 

 Combined with this fine foliage the charm of the plant lies in the soft, fluffy 

 look of its many small flower-heads of greenish white. It is found usually 

 in dry fields, 



E. album, white thoroughwort, another notable member of the genus, grows 

 but from one to three feet high, producing opposite, oblong-lanceolate, 

 sessile and coarsely toothed leaves, and flower-heads of w^hite in spreading 

 and terminal clusters. 



E. coelestimtm, quaintly, called the " mist-flower," from the soft haze of 

 its violet-blue blossoms growing with bell-shaped involucres in small com- 

 pact heads, is further known by its opposite, slender-petioled leaves being 

 ovate with a truncate base. 



E, perfoliatum, boneset, common thoroughwort, or Indian sage as this 

 plain, well known plant along the waysides is variously called, is always 

 recognisable by its opposite, lanceolate leaves, long pointed at the apex and 

 which about the stem are connate-perfoliate. It is a sturdy, stout individual, 

 much branched, and the young growth is woolly, pubescent. In the small 

 heads are compactly produced many greenish white flowers often fluffy-looking 

 from their protruding stamens. From time almost immemorial, boneset has 

 been utilised to make into a strengthening tea. It is something that the 

 " yarb doctor " never forgets. As about borage and vervain, an old 

 superstition exists that it will not thrive far away from human habitations. 



CLIMBING HEMP=WEED. {Plate CLXVI.) 

 Willuo-hba;a scd?idens. 



Flozver-heads : growing in lateral and terminal compound clusters and being 

 composed of tubular flowers only. Irn'olucre : with four linear, pointed bracts. 



