4(j 

 PASTURE THISTLE. 



This is the thistle that we most of- 

 ten see in fields and pastures. It is 

 one of the largest species, the flower 

 heads often measuring three inches 

 across and usually with only one or 

 two flowers on a single plant. The 

 stem is stout and straight and from 

 one to two feet tall. The alternating 

 leaves are jagged-edged and armed 

 with very sharp prickles as is also 

 the large involucre that contains the 

 pink florets. The object of all this 

 armor is to make it difficult for and 

 to discourage crawling insects from 

 gaining the top of the plant. The 

 Pasture Thistle is the species shown 

 in the opposite picture. 



CANADA THISTLES, so called, are in reality waifs 

 that have strayed across the ocean and have multiplied and 

 become very numerous throughout our range. This species 

 grows from one to three feet in height. The stem is slender 

 and quite branching and at the end of each branch are many 

 small flower heads measuring but little over an inch across. 

 The leaves, too, are much more slender than those of the 

 preceding species but have just as many and just as sharp 

 prickles. After maturing each of the florets is replaced by 

 a small seed with a silky parachute on which it can float 

 away to new pastures. The seeds are eaten by birds, par- 

 ticularly goldfinches which also work considerable of the 

 downy plumes into the lining of their nests. 



DANDELIONS also are included in the great Com- 

 posite Family. They grow almost anywhere and every- 

 where, particularly on lawns or in other places where they 

 are not wanted. Everyone is familiar with their rosettes 

 of jagged leaves and with the handsome flowerheads com- 

 posed of golden-yellow, strap-shaped florets, each perched 

 at the summit of a hollow stem. The yellow flowers are re- 

 placed within a few days by a round misty ball of seeds 

 and their parachutes, ready to be blown far away at the 

 slightest breath of air. 



