COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 413 
both sides. Heads in large, rather 
loose, terminal cymose clusters, deep 
reddish purple; florets all perfect 
and fertile with tubular, five-lobed 
corollas; stamens five, united in a 
tube about the cleft-tipped style, a 
characteristic of all composites; in- 
volucre top-shaped, purple-tinged, its 
bracts imbricated in several series, 
closely appressed. Achenes bristly 
ribbed, with a double pappus, the 
outer row of short, very stiff, scale- 
like bristles, the inner row much 
longer, of many fine, rough hairs. 
(Fig. 288.) 
Means of control 
In cultivated crops. the perennial 
roots are destroyed by the plow and 
the following tillage, but in land 
where there is danger of washing, or 
which for other reasons is not desired 
to be put under cultivation, the 
grubbing-hoe or the scythe must be 
persistently used. Cut closely in 
May, repeating in June, and again 
Fig. 288. — Tall Ironweed (Ver- 
nonia altissima). X 1}. 
in August and September, 
thus preventing all seed development and exhausting the roots 
of all sustenance supplied by the leaf-growth. 
WESTERN IRONWEED 
Vernonia fasciculata, Michx. 
Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: July to September. 
Seed-time: September to November. 
Range: Ohio to South Dakota, southward to New Mexico and 
Texas. 
Habitat: Prairies, hillsides, woodland borders, meadows, pastures, 
roadsides, and waste places. 
