( 36 .) 
AC H ILLE'A* *. 
Linnean Class and Order. Syngene'sia, Polyga'mia Su- 
PE'RFLUAf. 
Natural Order. Compo'sitas. Tribe, Corymbi'feRjE. Juss. — 
Lind. Syn. pp. 140 & 142; Introd. to Nat. Syst. of Bot. pp. 197 
& 199. — Synanthe'rejE. Tribe, Corymbi'fer 2 E. — Rich, by 
Macgillv. pp. 454 & 455. 
Gen. Char. Involucrum ( common calyx ) egg-shaped, imbri- 
cated (tiled), with several egg-shaped, pointed, converging scales 
(bracteae). Corolla compound, radiant ; florets of the disk all per- 
fect (with both stamens and a pistil), tubular, with 5 equal spread- 
ing segments; those of the ray from 5 to 10, strap-shaped, but 
peculiarly short and rounded, broader than long, inversely-heart- 
shaped, with a small intermediate lobe or tooth. Filaments five, 
in the tubular florets only, hair-like, very short. Anthers forming 
a cylindrical tube. Germen ( ovarium) in all the florets small, 
inversely-egg-shaped. Style thread-shaped, as long as the stamens. 
Stigmas spreading, blunt. Seed in all the florets inversely-egg- 
shaped, blunt, without any border or crown. Receptacle narrow, 
slightly elevated, beset with spear-shaped, chaffy, pointed, deciduous 
scales, as tall as the florets of the disk. — Distinguished by the egg- 
shaped, imbricated involucrum ; the nearly flat, chaffy receptacle ; 
the few (from 5 to 10) roundish, inversely-heart-shaped florets of 
the ray ; and the want of pappus to the seeds. 
Four species British. 
ACHILLE'A PTA'RMICA. Sneeze-wort. Goose-tongue. 
Spec. Char. Leaves strap-spear-shaped, pointed, equal, and 
sharply serrated, smooth. 
Eng. Bot. t. 757. — Curt. FI. Lond. t. 343. — Sm. FI. Brit. v. ii. p. 908. — Eng. 
FI. v. iii. p. 460. — With. (7th edit.) v. iii. p. 956. — Lind. Syn. p. 151. — Hook. 
Br. FI. p. 367.— Sibth. FI. Oxon. p. 260.— Abbot’s FI. Bedf. p. 187.— Relh, 
FI. Cant. p. 351. — Purt. Midi. FI. v. ii. p. 400. — Hook. FI. Scot. p. 248. — 
Grev. FI. Edin. p. 182. — Walk. FI. of Oxf. p.248. — Ptarmica, Ray’s Syn. p. 
183. — Johnson’s Gerarde, 606. 
Localities. — In wet hedges and thickets, moist meadows and pastures, and 
about the banks of rivers, and ditches. — Frequent. 
Perennial. — Flowers in July, August, and September. 
Root creeping, somewhat jointed, and sending out many long 
fibres. Stem upright, from one to three feet high, slightly angular, 
smooth, hollow, leafy, with small axillary rudiments of branches; 
Fig. 1. Calyx. — Fig. 2. A tubular Floret of the Disk, highly magnified. — 
Fig. 3. Same, natural size. — Fig. 4. Stamens and Pistil, highly magnified. — 
Fig. 5. A strap-shaped Floret of the Ray, highly magnified. — Fig. 6. Same, 
natural size. — Fig. 7. The chaffy Receptacle. — Fig. 8. A Seed. 
* From Achilles, the famous Grecian hero, who is reported to have studied 
plants under Chiron, and to have extracted vulnerary virtues from this herb. 
t The second order of the Linnean class Syngene'sia, comprehending all 
those compound flowers in which theflorets of the disk have, each of them, five 
stamens and a pistil, and the florets of the ray a pistil only, and all producing 
perfect seed. 
