238 THE COMPOSITE FAMILY. [Matricaria. 



much elongated as the flowering advances and hollow. Achenes 

 without any border at the top. 



In fields and waste places, in Europe and Kussian Asia. Probably 

 diffused all over Britain, but often confounded with Anthemis arvensis 

 or A. Cotula. Fl. the whole season. 



XIV. ANTHEMIS. CHAMOMILE. 



Herbs, with alternate, much cut leaves, and radiating flower-heads, 

 solitary on terminal peduncles, or in a loose corymb. Involucres hemi- 

 spherical, with a few rows of bracts more or less scarious on the edges. 

 Receptacle convex or conical, with scales between all or at least the 

 central florets. Achenes angular or striate, without any pappus, or 

 crowned by a minute border. Style nearly that of Senecio. 



A rather large genus, spread over Europe, temperate Asia, and 

 northern Africa ; differing from most Chrysanthemums in habit, and 

 from all in the scales of the receptacle. It has recently been divided 

 into several groups, too technical to be adopted as genera. 



Rays yellow 4. A. tinctoria. 



Rays white. 

 Florets of the ray without any style. Erect, glabrous annual . 1. A. Cotula. 

 Florets of the ray with a style. Plant downy. 

 Procumbent or creeping perennial. Receptacle-scales oblong 



and obtuse 3. A. nobilis. 



Erect or decumbent branching annual. Receptacle-scales 



narrow and pointed 2. A. arvensis. 



1. A. Cotula, Linn. (fig. 528). Fetid <?., Stink Mayweed. — An erect, 

 branching annual, a foot high or rather more, glabrous, but sprinkled 

 with glandular dots, and emitting a disagreeable smell when rubbed. 

 Lower leaves twice or thrice, upper ones once pinnate, with very 

 narrow- linear, short pointed lobes, entire or divided. Flower-heads in 

 a loose terminal corymb. Involucre slightly cottony, the inner bracts 

 scarious at the top. Eeceptacle convex from the beginning, lengthen- 

 ing out as the flowering advances into a narrow oblong shape, with a 

 few linear, pointed scales among the central florets. Kay-florets white, 

 without any trace of the style. Achenes rough with glandular dots, 

 without any border. 



In cultivated ground, and waste places ; a common weed all over 

 Europe and Kussian Asia, except the extreme north. Abundant in 

 southern England and Ireland, much less so in the north, and rare in 

 Scotland. Ft. all summer and autumn. 



2. A. arvensis, Linn. (fig. 529). Corn C. — A coarser plant than A. 

 Cotula, sometimes biennial, often decumbent, more or less downy with 

 minute silky hairs, the leafy branches terminating ' in single flower- 

 heads. Segments of the leaves shorter, and not so narrow as in the 

 last, the flower-heads rather larger, the bracts of the receptacle usually 

 broader, and the florets of the ray have always a style although they 

 do not always perfect their fruit. 



Less widely diffused than A. Cotula, and chiefly south European, but 

 extends also over a great part of the Continent. Certainly not very 

 common in England or Ireland, and local or rare in Scotland, but so 

 frequently confounded with allied species that its precise distribution 

 is difficult to ascertain. Fl. spring and summer. A maritime variety 



