WEEDS OP THE THISTLE FAMILY. 



179 



Fig. 137. Flowering branch with heads; a, head 

 6, disk-flower; c, ray-flower. (After Watson.) 



moist spots at the edges of ponds or lakes. The odor is strong and 

 the taste sharp and bitter. When eaten by eows it imparts its taste 



and odor to milk and butter. Often 

 troublesome in meadows but readily 

 destroyed by pulling, repeated 

 mowing while in blossom or thor- 

 ough cultivation. 



In medicine it is used as a stim- 

 ulant and tonic, especially for blad- 

 der troubles. The name Achillea is 

 said to have been given the genus 

 because Achilles used it in the Tro- 

 jan war to h"eal the woUnds of his 

 soldiers. If gathered for sale the 

 entire plant should be collected when 

 in flower and carefully dried, the 

 coarser stems being rejected. The 

 price ranges from 2 to 5 cents a 

 pound. 



The common name milfoil refers 

 to its finely cut leaves. As some clovers with three leaflets are tre- 

 foils and the five finger, cinquef oil, so the yarrow is milfoil or plant 

 of a myriad leaflets. In England it is said to be used as a love 

 charm by maidens who pluck the plant from the grave of a young 

 man, meanwhile repeating the stanza : 



"Yarrow, sweet yarrow, the first that I have found, 

 In the name of my beloved I pluck thee from the ground; 

 As Jesus loved sweet Mary and took her for His dear, 

 So in a dream this night I hope my true love will appear." 



When carried about the person it was thought to drive away fear 

 and was therefore worn in time of danger. 



149. Anthemis cotula L. Dog-fennel. Mayweed. (A. I. 1.) 



Stem much branched, glabrous, glandular, ill-smelling, 6-20 inches 

 high ; leaves two or three times divided into narrow, almost thread-like, 

 pointed segments. Heads numerous, on long leafless stems at the 'ends of 

 the branches ; involucre cup-shaped, its bracts oblong, appressed, over- 

 lapping in several rows, their margins whitish ; receptacle oblong, conical, 

 chaffy at top, the chaff bristly ; disk-flowers numerous, fertile, yellow ; 

 rays 10-18, white, neutral, 3-toothed, reflexed when old. Achenes top- 

 shaped, dirty yellow, 1/12 inch long, usually with 8-10 lengthwise rows 

 of wart-like tubercles; pappus none. (Fig. 138.) 



Abundant in barnyards, lanes, commons of towns and along 

 paths and roadsides. June-Nov. It is a vile, stinking, yet, with its 



