244 THE COMPOSITE FAMILY. [Senecio. 



Rootstock perennial. 

 Branches spreading. Corymb loose and irregular. Achenes 



all glabrous 5. S. aquaticut. 



Stem tall and erect. Corymb rather dense and terminal. 

 Achenes of the disk hairy. 

 Leaves irregularly pinnate, with a broad terminal lobe. 



Achenes of the ray glabrous. Rootstock not creeping 6. S. Jacobcecu 

 Leaves pinnate ; the lobes all narrow. Achenes all hairy. 



Rootstock shortly creeping 7. S. erucifolius. 



Leaves undivided, entire or toothed. 

 Involucres with small, fine outer bracts at the base. Leaves 

 acutely toothed. 

 Leaves cottony underneath. Ray of 12 to 20 florets . . . 8. S. paludosus. 



Leaves glabrous. Ray of 5 to 8 florets 9. S. saracenicus 



Involucres of a single row of bracts, without small outer ones. 

 Leaves entire or obtusely toothed. 

 Annual or biennial. Leaves downy. Achenes glabrous, 



strongly ribbed 10. S. palustris. 



Rootstock perennial. Leaves loosely cottony underneath. 



Achenes cottony ; the ribs scarcely prominent . . .11. S. campestris. 



Several exotic species are much cultivated for ornament, especially 

 the double-flowering S. elegans from the Cape, S. Cineraria from the 

 shores of the Mediterranean, and the numerous varieties of one or two 

 Canary Island species, known to our gardeners as greenhouse Cinerarias, 



1. S. vulgaris, Linn. (fig. 542). Groundsel. — An erect, branching 

 annual, from 6 inches to near a foot high, glabrous or bearing a little 

 loose, cottony wool. Leaves pinnatifid, with ovate, toothed or jagged 

 lobes. Flower-heads in close terminal corymbs or clusters. Involucres 

 cylindrical, of about 20 equal bracts, with several outer smaller ones. 

 Florets almost always all tubular, with very rarely any ray whatever. 

 Achenes slightly hairy. 



A very common weed of cultivation throughout Europe and Kussian 

 Asia, but not extending into the tropics, and less disposed than many 

 others to migrate with man. Abundant in Britain. Fl. all the year 

 round. [A variety, radiata, Koch, with minute rays to the outer florets, 

 is found in the Channel Islands.] 



2. S. viscosus, Linn. (fig. 543). Viscous S. — A coarser, harder, and 

 taller annual than S. vulgaris, and covered all over with a short, 

 viscous, strong-smelling down, the leaves more deeply divided, with 

 narrower, more jagged lobes, the flower-heads rather thicker, with more 

 florets, and on longer peduncles, forming a loose, terminal corymb. 

 Outer scales of the involucre usually but 2 or 3, and nearly half as long 

 as the inner ones, of which there are about 20. Outer florets ligulate, 

 but small, spreading when fresh, but soon withering and rolled back 

 so as at first sight to escape observation. Achenes glabrous. 



In waste places, over a great part of Europe, but not common, and 

 does not extend so far eastward or northward as S. vulgaris. Scattered 

 over various parts of England, southern Scotland, and Ireland, but very 

 local, and seldom abundant. Fl. summer and autumn. 



3. S. sylvaticus, Linn. (fig. 544). Wood S. — An annual, with the 

 foliage much like that of S. vulgaris, but a taller and weaker plant, 

 sometimes 2 feet high or more, slightly downy, or nearly glabrous, 

 not so viscid nor so strong-smelling as 8. viscosus. Flower-heads rather 

 numerous, in a loose corymb, the involucres cylindrical, of from 12 to 

 15 equal bracts, with the outer ones very minute or wanting. Outer 

 florets usually ligulate, but small and rolled back as in S. viscosus, and 



