534 THE THISTLE FAMILY, 



golden-rayed flowers ; but always, in fruit, we may know them by their white 

 pappus, appearing in some species hoary, as an old man, senex, the mean- 

 ing of the generic name. 



Our present plant inhabits only the high mountains through its range, 

 where on rocky cliffs it blooms sometimes prolifically, although but a scanty 

 soil has collected, the flower-heads massing in a brilliant orange against 

 which the foliage appears fine and fern-like. 



S. Smdllii, Small's squaw-weed, becomes quite tall in many of its thick 

 clumps, which are seen through the meadows and mountainous thickets 

 from Virginia to North Carolina. Very numerous also are its deep-yellow 

 flower-heads, while the basal leaves with long, slender petioles are linear- 

 oblong and crenate-dentate. Covering the lower part of these petioles and 

 about the lower stem there is a thick, white, woolly substance, loose and 

 eventually becoming unattached. It appears not unlike cotton when first 

 bursting from the seeds. This is the commonest species of its range. 



S. toviejitbsus, woolly ragweed, ashwort, which occurs from Louisiana 

 and Florida to New Jersey, is tall and odd-looking, partly because of the 

 persistent, woolly, white covering of its parts— seen also in some degree 

 over the whole plant. The young, basal leaves have often through this 

 cause a texture somewhat like that of flannel. They are oblong and finely 

 crenate-dentate, while the stem leaves — which, however, occur very dis- 

 tantly — are linear-lanceolate, or spatulate, and sessile. 



S. obovdtus, round-leaf squaw-weed, makes but a small showing of woolly 

 covering about its base and is distinctive in its smooth sub-orbicular basal 

 leaves which are irregularly crenate and taper into long margined petioles. 



S. aureus, golden ragwort, swamp squaw-weed or false valerian, grows 

 at its best in low, wet meadows, or swamp-borders, which it fairly covers 

 in the spring with gold whose glow continues for a long time. But when 

 unsuited with its soil the bloom is of much poorer appearance. It is a 

 common species from Florida and Texas to Newfoundland, with orbicular, 

 radical leaves, cordate at their bases. Generally it is smooth through- 

 out. About its roots there is a strong, disagreeable scent, somewhat like 

 that of valerian. 



VIRGINIA THISTLE. 



Car dims Virginianus, 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Thistle. Reddish Scentless. Florida a7id Texas to April-September, 



purple. I 'irginia and Kentucky. 



Floiver-heads : one to one-and-a-half inches broad, with many tubular, perfect 

 and similar flowers. Corollas : deeply five-cleft. Involucre: with slender scales 

 imbricated in many series and bristle-tipped. Leaves : alternate, entirely lobed or 



