DESCRIPTION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
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or heterogamous. Florets of the ray in one row, usually 
female and 3-toothed, with a long bifid, protruding style ; 
of the disk 5-toothed, hermaphrodite, or, by the absorption 
of the ovary, sterile or male; the heads small, racemous-pa- 
niculate, globose, nodding. Involucral scales, imbricated, 
dry, scarious at the edge, exterior scales somewhat silky, 
linear, lax ; interior ones rounded, scarious, somewhat naked. 
The herb, covered with silky hairiness, is intensely bitter^ 
and possesses a strong, peculiar odor. The dried herb with 
the flowers is officinal, and should be collected during flow- 
ering season. Escaped from cultivation. 
Inula Helenium, L. Elecampane. Stout perennial 3-5° high; 
leaves large, woolly beneath ; those from the thick root ovate, 
petioled, the others partly clasping; peduncles few, one- 
headed, corymbose at the apex. Head many-flowered, het- 
erogamous ; florets of the ray females, in one row, some- 
times by abortion sterile, usually ligulate, rarely somewhat 
tubular and trifid ; those of the disk hermaphrodite, tubu- 
lar, 6-toothed. Involucre imbricated in several rows. Re- 
ceptacle flat or somewhat convex, naked. Anthers with two 
setae at the base. Achene without a beak, 4-cornered. 
Pappus uniform, in one row, composed of capillary rough- 
ish setae. Conspicuous by its large heads of yellow flowers. 
The root is large and has an aromatic camphor-like taste. 
It is originally a European plant, but it escapes from gar- 
dens and has long been naturalized. Found in East Ten- 
nessee at Sweetwater. The root is officinal. 
Polymnia Uvedalia, L. Leaf-cup. One of the largest of our 
herbaceous species. A tall, branching perennial, 4-10° high, 
roughish hairy; leaves broadly ovate, the larger 1° wide 
angled and toothed, nearly sessile, the lower palmately lobed, 
abruptly narrowed into a winged petiole. Heads broad, 
mauy- flowered, radiate ; disk flowers perfect but sterile. In- 
volucral scales in two rows, outer very large, 5 in number, 
leaf-like and spreading ; the inner small and membranaceous 
partly enclosing the thick triangular obovoid achenes. Re- 
