COMPOSITE FAMILY. 



187 



aromatic bitter, and deservedly popular as a tonic medicine, — for which 

 purpose it is generally cultivated. It is an old and still prevalent opin- 

 ion, that this plant thrives better for being trampled upon or kept pros- 

 trate, whence it was popularly called " the Whig Plant " during the rev- 

 olutionary contest in the United States. The notion is thus incident- 

 ally alluded to by Shakspeare, in the first part of his King Henry IV. — 

 "For though the Camomile, the more it is trodden on the faster it 

 grows — yet youth, the more it is wasted the sooner it wears." This is 

 said to be naturalized in Delaware ; another species is quite common 

 about New York, J. arven'sis, L., which has the leaves less divided and 

 the chaff' of the receptacle pointed. 



16. ACHILLE'A, L. Yarrow. 



[Named after Achilles, who first used the plant.] 



Heads many- or several-flowered ; rays few and short, pistillate ; tube of 

 tlje disk-florets obcompressed. Involucre ovoid-oblong, — the scales imbri- 

 cated, unequal. Receptacle flat or sometimes elongated, chaffy. Akenes 

 oblong, obcompressed, somewhat margined, destitute of pappus. Pe- 

 rennial herbs. Leaves alternate, mostly pinnatifid. Heads small, co- 

 rymbose. 



1. A Millefo'lium, L. Stem mostly simple; leaves bipinnately dis- 

 sected, — the segments linear, incised-serrate, acute ; corymb compound, 

 fastigiate ; rays about 5, roundish-obovate. 



Thousand-leajp Achillea. Yarrow. Milfoil. 



Fr. La Millefeuille. Germ. Die Scafgatbe. Span. Milenrama. 



stem 2-3 feet high hairy and somewhat lanuginous, mostly simple, corymbose at sum- 

 mit. Leaves 2 or 3-6 inches long (the radical ones still longer), nearly sessile, much and 

 finely dissected, fleacfe small, numerous, in a dense terminal fastigiate corymb; rays 

 white or often tinged with purple, crenate-dentate at apex • disk-florets whitish, — the tube 

 sprinkled with resinous particles. Akenes obcompressed, slightly margined near the sum- 

 mit, smooth. Receptacle small, flat ; cAajf lance-oblong, acute. 



Pastures, fence-rows, &c : throughout the United States : introduced. Native of 

 Europe. Fl. June - Sept. Fr. Aug. - October. 



Obs. This foreigner has become completely naturalized. It is an 

 aromatic bitter, and somewhat astringent, — quite popular as a tonic. 

 The English agricultural writers speak of it as a plant of some value, 

 in their pastures ; but I believe it is universally regarded here as a mere 

 weed. Certainly it is far inferior to our usual pasture plants, — and I 

 think our cattle rarely eat it. Another species, A. Ptarmica, L. (Sneeze- 

 wort,) is naturalized in some places. It differs from the above in hav- 

 ing simple, lance-linear, and sharply serrate leaves, and has much more 

 conspicuous rays. 



