242 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



Leaves, long, narrow, those from the root lobed. Time, July 

 to October. 



Both disk and ray flowers present. A tall, coarse, ugly 

 weed. It resembles a daisy, with the rays cut very short. 

 The numerous flowers are arranged in panicles. 



32. Daisy Fleabane. Sweet Scabious 



E. dnnuus. — Leaves, with coarse teeth, the lower with mar- 

 gined petioles. 



Flowers clustered, larger than the last, white with purplish 

 tinge. Also a coarse plant, 4 to 5 feet high. The flowers have 

 many long, fine rays. 



33 



E. strigosus may be known from the last by its entire leaves 

 and a generally more delicate appearance. The flower rays 

 are white and fine. 



Fleabanes, when dried and hung inside the house, were con- 

 sidered poisonous to insects. 



34. Common Ragweed, Bitterweed 



Ambrosia artimisiaefblia. — .^aw/Zy,' Composite. Color, 

 green. Leaves, much cut and thin, opposite and alternate. 



This unwelcome weed, when examined under the micro- 

 scope, shows the fertile and sterile flowers in different heads 

 on the same plant. The spikes of flowers above are stami- 

 nate. Below, in the leaf-axils, are 3 pistillate flowers. Often 

 the plant exhales rather a disagreeable odor. Its pollen is 

 said to produce hay-fever. It has a strong, spreading root. 



Mr. W. H. Gibson has found something curious and likable in 

 this ugly weed. He says: "The pith obtained from the stem is 

 lighter and more buoyant than any vegetable tissue of like bulk. 

 It seems almost to float as it falls from your hand, while its cross- 

 fracture, with its iridescent sheen, certainly brings reminders of 



