COMPOSITE FAMILY 



YELLOW CHAMOMILE. GOLDEN MARGUERITE 



Anthemis linctbria. 



Afithemis, Greek, meaning obscure. 



A heavy-scented perennial of abundant bloom, bearing golden-yellow 

 daisy-like flowers; one to two inches across. Europe. Summer. 



Stem. — Erect, angular, two to three 

 feet high, of bushy habit. 



Leaves. — Alternate, pinnately divided. 



Flower-heads. — Daisy-like, golden- 

 yellow; rays many, fertile; disk yellow. 



Involucre. — Hemispherical; bracts 

 unequal, small, imbricated. 



Receptacle. — Convex, chaffy. 



Pappus. — None; akenes oblong. 



The Golden Marguerite is a plant 

 a good deal like Pyrethrum, bearing 

 abundantly from midsummer to frost 

 beautiful daisy-like flowers. Of these 

 the disk-florets are on a rounded re- 

 ceptacle and the rays are either bright- 

 Goiden Marguerite. AntUmis ygUow or pale-yellow; both forms are 



tmctbria f , . . m, . t^ , 



m cultivation. The variety Kelwayt 

 is the present favorite for cultivation. 



The Chamomile of commerce is the flower of Anthemis ndbilis, 

 a much-branched, downy-stemmed plant, bearing daisy-like flower-' 

 heads with yellow disks and white rays. For medicinal purposes 

 the heads are cut as soon as expanded and carefully dried. A 

 double form is in the garden, and the medicinal form has sometimes 

 escaped from cultivation. 



There is an old and still prevalent opinion that this plant thrives 

 better for being trampled upon or kept prostrate. This notion is 

 incidentally alluded to by Shakespeare in "King Henry IV," "For 

 though the camomile, the more it is trodden on the faster it 

 grows — ^yet youth, the more it is wasted the sooner it wears." 



476 



