170 



THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. 



since the time of Hippocrates, the root being slightly aromatic, 

 tonic and expectorant and at one time much used in dyspepsia and 

 chronic coughs. When properly dried it brings 4 to 5 cents a 

 pound. Remedies : deep and repeated cutting with hoe or spud. 



138. Silphium pekfoiiatum L. Cup-plant. Indian-cup. (P. N. 3.) 



Stem stout, 4-sided, branched above, 4-8 feet high; leaves opposite, 



thin, the upper entire, broadly united at base to form a cup-shaped cavity 



about the stem ; lower long-stalked, 

 cut-toothed, G-15 inches long, 4-8 

 inches wide. Heads rather few, 2-3 

 inches wide, in a flat-topped open clus- 

 ter; receptacle flat, chaffy; involucre 

 saucer-shaped, the bracts broad, ovate ; 

 flowers yellow, the 20-30 rays linear, 

 fertile, toothed ; the disk-flowers pistil- 

 late but sterile, 5-toothed. Achenes 

 broad, flattened, 2-winged, notched at 

 top; pappus none. (Fig. 129.) 



Common in low moist grounds 

 along roadways, ditches, marshes, 

 and especially banks of streams. 

 July-Sept. A large coarse weed, 

 the cups at base of leaves being a 

 striking character. These- are often 

 filled with water in which many insects are drowned. Whether 

 the weed is, like the pitcher plant, partly carnivorous, is as yet un- 

 known. Remedies : deep cutting with hoe or spud. 



139. Heliopsis scabba Dnnal. Rough 



Ox-eye. False Sunflower. (P. 



N. 3.) 

 Stem rough, simple or branched 

 above, 2-5 feet high ; leaves opposite, 

 ovate, pointed, sharply toothed, firm, 

 rough on both sides, 2-5 inches long, 2 

 inches wide, short-stalked. Heads term- 

 inal, few or solitary, long-stalked, 2 

 inches broad ; receptacle convex, chaffy ; 

 involucre cup-shaped, its bracts oblong, 

 in 2 or 3 rows ; flowers yellow, the rays 

 10 or more, fertile, 1 inch long. Achene 

 thick, 4-angIed ; pappus crown-like of 

 1-3 sharp teeth. (Fig. 130.) 



Common in dry soil along fence- 

 rows, borders of thickets, roadsides, 

 etc. July-Sept. The name Heliop- 



Fig. 129. Ray-flower and chaffy bract above. 

 (After Britton and Brown.) 



Fig. 130. Ray-flower, natural size; disk-flower 

 and chaff. (After Britton and Brown.) 



