322 PLANTS GROWING IN WASTE SOIL. 



plant and at a distance might easily be mistaken for an aster. 

 Its tubular flowers and involucre, however, at once remind us 

 that it is the iron-weed. 



BONESET. THOROUGHWORT. 



Eupatbrium perfolidtum. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Composite. Greenish white. Herbaceous. General. August., September. 



Flower-heads ; very small ; tubular, growing in large, dense corymbs. Leaves : 

 opposite ; united at the base about the stem ; lanceolate ; rough ; netted-veined 

 and serrated. Ste77i : four to five feet high ; branching ; leafy ; very hairy. 



When in full blow the protruding stamens from these innumer- 

 able little flowers give a fluffy look to boneset that greatly 

 adds to its rather slight claim to beauty. Perhaps the know- 

 ing insects have the same faith in its efficacy for healing as was 

 believed in by the good old herb doctors, as they manage 

 almost every season to devour the leaves so that they are 

 left simply fibrous net-works. 



Boneset is, as it has always been, a staunch friend to frail 

 humanity, and a well-prepared decoction of the dried herb 

 causes new vigour to flow through the veins of many a droop- 

 ing mortal. 



Boneset taffy is very good, much better to taste, in fact, than 

 boneset tea. 



COMMON YARROW. fllLFOIL. {F/afe CLX///.) 



Achillea Millefblium. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR , RANGE, TIME OF BLOOM 



Composite. White^ or pinkish. Strongly scented. General. July-October. 



Flower-heads : growing in compound corymbs and composed of both ray and 

 disk flowers. The rays four or five square and three-cleft at the apex ; the 

 disk dingy white. Leaves : alternate ; twice divided into fine segments. Slem : 

 very leafy ; downy ; much branched at the top. 



It is fortunate that the milfoil is attributed with so many 

 virtues and has the sanction of the great Achilles, whose name 

 it bears, and who is said to have discovered its healing pro- 

 perties, and to have employed them for the benefit of his sol- 

 diers ; for certainly it is not pretty. That is, we think it is not 

 pretty when we see it along the dusty roadside. Placed under a 



