Part 34

The leaf is small and indeterminate in shape, it is cut so deeply and irregularly as to present an aspect of being all fringed margin and no leaf; the midrib is strong, and the texture coarse. Color, light green. The leaves are set alternately and close together upon the stalk or branch.

The flowers are small and yellow, arranged in a flat disc, surrounded by a sparse number of oblong, notched, white rays. The leafy cup, which holds the flower-head, is dry and husk-like. The heads are terminal, and single.

This is a plant of communal habit, and profusely flowering. It has a trick of folding down its rays at night, and is a great sluggard about spreading them in the morning. After the rays age and fall, the disc becomes cone-shaped. “It has taken up its place by the roadside, close to the ruts--in bad taste.” (Thoreau’s Journal for June 25, 1852.)

*Dwarf Dandelion.* Krigia Virginica.

Found from May to August on sandy banks and roadsides, and in pastures.

The several flower-stems rise from a mat of root-leaves; they vary from 3 to 10 inches in height, and are very slender, hairy, and green.

The earlier leaf is round, with an entire margin, and set on a very short stem; the later is oblong and narrow, with a sometimes notched margin, and scattering hairs upon the edge, and a thin texture. The color is light green. Later in the season a few slender leaves are found on the flower-stems.

The flowers are all ray flowers, 12 to 20 in number, small, with very finely-notched tips; rich orange, yellow in color. The cup which holds the head is small and tubular; its spreading row of tips is a little shorter than the rays; green in color.

The dark seed with its 5 or 7 rounded scales and an equal number of long thread-like white bristles is a charming feature of this delicate little plant. Sometimes the flower-stems fork, and bear two heads.

*Ox Eye Daisy.* Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum. *White Weed.* *Bull’s Eye.*

Found from June to October in fields, meadows, and roadsides, growing most abundantly in poor soil.

The stalk, whose height varies from 10 to 18 inches, is often single but sometimes sparsely branching, and bears but few leaves; it is of a tough fibre, sometimes grooved, and smooth. Light green in color.

The root-leaves are round-tipped, infrequently cut, and are set on stems; the upper leaves are very irregular in shape, and capriciously cleft or cut; the margins are entire, the texture tough, and the midrib strong. They clasp the stalk at intervals, alternately. Green in color.

The flowers are small, tubular, and yellow; they are packed evenly in a disc shaped liked a flat button (it becomes more conical with maturity), surrounded by a single row of about 25 rays. These rays are noticeably long, of a fine texture; pure white in color. The flower-head is supported by a mat of green taper-pointed bracts, whose tips are often rusty; it is set singly on the summit of the stalk.

This sturdy colonizer, the farmer’s pest and children’s delight, frequently usurps a whole field, where it thrives and blooms till frost-time in spite of draughts or flood. Double Daisies and conical-shaped discs are occasionally found, besides other variations from the regular order. The leafage is interesting, and individual in gesture.

*Early Hawkweed.* Hieracium venosum. *Rattlesnake-weed.*

Found in June in the shade of dry woods, or on barren hilltops and pastures.

The flower-stem springs from a rosette of foot-leaves; it grows from 1 to 2 feet high, bears but one leaf midway, and is smooth and shining. Of a light green color, with flecks of crimson at the leaf, and near the foot.

The foot-leaf is large (from 1 to 3 inches long), a long oval with a pointed tip, the midrib is wide, flat, and hairy, the prolonged base, or short stem, is partly clasping; the margin is entire and fringed with gray hairs, the texture is leathery. In color a dull light green, while the edge, ribs, and underside are red-purple. The single leaf on the flower-stem is long, narrow, and smooth; of a dull green color.

The flower is like a ribbon (or “strap-shaped”) with a finely notched tip; of fine texture, and smooth. The color is a bright Dandelion yellow. 20 or more of these flowers are arranged in a spreading head, enclosed in a leafy light green cup, whose tips are tawny-red. The heads are set on long, slender stems, which fork from the main stem, with a tiny leaf sitting at the point of junction.

This jaunty plant, though found in the open, likes also the shade, where yet it never fails to swing its yellow heads out towards the sunshine. Sometimes the foot-leaves are wanting, and the flower-stem rises from the bare ground.

*Canada Hawkweed.* Hieracium Canadense.

Found, during August and September, growing along roads and thickets in dry shade.

The stalk, which grows to 2 or 3 feet high, is simple at first, but branches above, and is leafy; it is round, hard-fibred, smooth--but downy near the flowers. In color a light green, pale near the foot.

The leaf is a long lance shape, pointed at the tip and broad at the base, with a prominent strong midrib, the margin sparingly and sharply toothed; of a firm texture, and smooth. The color is a medium green, silvery underneath, the midrib light. It is set close upon the stalk, slightly clasping it; the arrangement is alternate. The length of the lowest leaves (sometimes 4 inches) decreases gradually, to that of a tiny thread at the spring of the flower-stems.

The flowers are finely notched at the tip; of a bright pure yellow color. The noticeably protruding two-tipped pistil is tawny-gray. The flower-head is large and spreading; its green cup is smooth and close-folded. The heads, on slender, downy, green stems, each of which bears a single leaf, are arranged in a loose terminal cluster.

Like all the Hawkweeds the Canada loves not solitude, but grows in gay encampment along a shaded road, where travellers welcome its strong absolute yellow, that is yet tempered to pleasing softness of tint by the many little gray pistils.

*Tawny Hawkweed.* Hieracium aurantiacum.