COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 503 
Range: Eastern Massachusetts to east- 
ern Pennsylvania. 
Habitat: Moist soil; cultivated ground, 
~ waste places. 
In England, whence this plant came, 
it is a pest of wet meadows and is said 
to be poisonous; it is to be hoped that 
its present restricted range in this 
country may not enlarge. Scapes stout, 
very scaly, six to eighteen inches tall. 
Heads in crowded, racemose clusters, 
each about a half-inch broad, on very 
short pedicels, pinkish purple, fragrant, 
the florets all tubular ; they are dicecious, 
the staminate heads being smaller than 
the fertile ones. Leaves appearing | 
often more than a foot broad when ma- 
ture, rounded heart-shaped, thick, green 
and smooth above, white-woolly be- Hig, 840) Buttery Week 
neath, irregularly but sharply toothed, (Petasites vulgaris). x 3. 
with stout petioles. (Fig. 349.) 
Means of control the same as for Tussilago. 
FIREWEED, OR PILEWORT 
Erechtites hieracifolia, Raf. 
Native. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: July to September. 
Seed-time: August to October. 
Range: Newfoundland to the Northwest Territory, southward to 
Florida, Louisiana, and Mexico. 
Habitat: Woodland borders and recently cleared land, especially 
if burned over. 
Coarse plants, with a rank odor and juices most nauseous to 
the taste. It is a medicinal herb for which collectors receive two 
or three cents a pound, the whole plant being pulled and dried 
just before bloom, in which process the leaves turn black. 
Stem two to eight feet tall, erect, smooth or only slightly hairy, 
succulent, grooved, usually with ascending branches. Leaves 
