242 THE COMPOSITE FAMILY. 



but short, with erect flowering stems, 2 to 3 feet high. Leaves once 

 or twice deeply pinnatifid, with lanceolate, pointed lobes or segments, 

 coarsely toothed or lobed, green and glabrous above, very white under- 

 neath. Flower-heads ovoid, with cottony involucres, forming a long 

 terminal panicle, each head containing 12 to 20 complete florets and a 

 few female ones, all fertile. 



On roadsides and waste places, either indigenous or introduced, over 

 nearly the whole area of the genus. Common in Britain. Fl. end of 

 summer, and autumn. 



4. A. Absinthium, Linn. (fig. 539). Wormwood or Absinth. — Stock 

 short, but branched and leafy, sometimes almost woody ; the flowering 

 stems erect and hard but annual, 1 to 2 feet high ; the whole plant of 

 a greyish white, with a very close almost silky down. Leaves almost 

 orbicular in their general outline, but much cut into oblong, linear, 

 obtuse lobes. Flower-heads numerous, drooping, nearly hemispherical, 

 and larger than in the other British species ; the outer bracts narrow- 

 linear, the inner ones very broad. Central florets numerous and mostly 

 fertile ; the outer female ones small and often barren. 



On roadsides and waste places, over the greater part of Europe and 

 Russian Asia, but in many cases introduced only, having been formerly 

 much cultivated for its bitter qualities. In Britain, it appears truly 

 indigenous near the sea in many parts of England and Scotland ; in 

 the interior it is confined to the neighbourhood of villages and habita- 

 tions ; it is a doubtful native of Ireland. Fl. autumn. 



XIX. TUSSILAGO. COLTSFOOT. 



Herbs, with perennial, creeping rootstocks, and large, broad, deeply 

 cordate radical leaves ; the flowering-stems issuing from separate buds 

 with small, narrow, alternate leaves or scales, and terminal flower- 

 heads, either solitary or in a raceme. Involucre of several linear 

 bracts, with a few small outer ones. Outer florets female, either filiform 

 or narrow-ligulate, the inner ones tubular, or sometimes all tubular. 

 Receptacle without scales. Branches of the style cylindrical, or club- 

 shaped. Achenes cylindrical, with a copious pappus of simple hairs. 



A genus of very few European or north Asiatic species, easily known 

 among British Composites by the peculiar foliage. 



The winter Heliotrope of our gardens, Tussilago fragrans, often 

 establishes itself near where it has been planted, and spreads widely ; 

 it is very near T. Petasites, but easily known by its fragrant flowers. 



Flower-heads solitary, the external florets yellow and narrow-ligu- 

 late 1. T. Farfara. 



Flower-heads in a compound raceme, purple or pink, nearly all 



tubular, or nearly all small and filiform, not ligulate . . . 2. T. Petasites. 



1. T. Farfara, Linn. (fig. 540). Coltsfoot. — Flowering stems simple, 

 but often growing in tufts, erect, about 6 inches high, more or less 

 covered with a loose, white cotton ; the small leaves or scales numerous, 

 oblong or linear, entire and erect. Flower-heads solitary, terminal; 

 the florets of the ray numerous, ligulate, very narrow, but not long, of 

 a bright yellow. Radical leaves appearing much later than the flower- 

 stems, 4 or 5 inches broad, angular and toothed, covered underneath 



