70 The Ashwort. 



The Ashwort. 



This plant belongs to the Class Syngenesia : Order Polygamia 

 Superflua : in the Natural System to the Order Composite, the 

 Linnaean name for which was Columniferce, from Columna, a 

 pillar, and fero, to bear, consisting of plants whose stamina and 

 pistil have the appearance of a column in the centre of the flower. 

 This Order furnishes a choice collection of herbs, both annual 

 and perennial, shrubs and trees ; they are very different in size 

 and height ; pretty thick and deciduous, of a beautiful appear- 

 ance, with an erect stem, which is formed by its branches and 

 foliage into a round head. The wood is, in general, soft and 

 light; the stems cylindric ; and the young branches, though 

 commonly of the same figure, are sometimes angular. In many 

 plants of this Order, the flowers generally open about nine in the 

 morning, and remain expanded until one in the afternoon. The 

 calyx sometimes single, at others double ; petals from four to 

 nine, five being the prevailing number; stamens from five, up- 

 wards ; anthers roundish ; seed-vessel generally a capsule, some- 

 times a pulpy fruit of the berry or cherry kind. The plants all 

 mucilaginous and lubricating. 



The Cineraria — Ashwort, takes its common name from the 



meaning of its Latin one. The genus is characterized by 



calyx simple, many leaved, equal; egret simple. There are 

 three species common in the United States. 



The Cineraria Heterophylla rises to the height of about 

 eight inches ; it has a peculiar hairy appearance. The leaves 

 which proceed directly from the root, have long stalks, are of an 

 oval shape, diminishing into a long narrow base ; many times 

 these shapes vary ; those from the main stem continue about the 

 same width most of the length, deeply cut, with the divisions 

 ranged opposite each other on the mid-rib. The flowers which 

 are yellow, and bloom in May, grow in flat bunches, the stalks 

 somewhat like the bracts of an umbrella, but spreading from dif- 

 ferent heights. 



The C. Canadensis is very much like the other, with blue- 

 formed clusters. There is a Southern species blooming in Au- 

 gust, but of very little account. In England, this plant is a great 



