COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 507 
The weed springs from rather shallow and fibrous roots, from 
which a few short, thick rootstocks are extended. Stem two to 
three feet tall, erect, stiff, grooved, very leafy, and branching at 
the top. Leaves dark green, deeply twice pinnatifid, the terminal 
segment largest, particularly of the lower 
leaves, which are six to eight inches long 
and petioled; stem-leaves more slender, 
smaller, and sessile. Flowers in large, 
many-headed, branching, flat-topped clus- 
ters, very showy and handsome. Heads 
golden yellow, nearly an inch broad, with 
twelve to fifteen wedge-shaped rays, toothed 
at their tips. Both rays and disk-florets 
are fertile. Achenes light yellow, grooved, 
oblong, those of the disk-florets bristly 
and straight, those of the rays smooth and 
curved. Pappus very copious, white, and 
silky. 
Means of control 
All plants in infested meadows should be 
pulled or grubbed out while in their earliest 
bloom, before the hay is harvested. Plants 
in pastures, in waste places, and on road- 
sides should be closely cut, piled, and 
burned before any seed has matured to be 
sown by the wind about the countryside. 
cultivated crops would cleanse infested 
perennial roots and its dormant seeds. 
GOLDEN RAGWORT 
Senécio atireus, L. 
Other English names: Squaw Weed, Life 
Grundy Swallow. 
Fig. 352. — Stinking 
Willie (Senecio Jacobea). 
xt. 
A short rotation of 
ground of both its 
Root, False Valerian, 
Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds and by rootstocks. 
Time of bloom: May to July. 
Seed-time: June to August. 
