LOCALITIES. In dry barren pastures, waste ground, fallow fields, and by roadsides, on a chalky or gravelly soil. Not uncommon in most parts of England and Scotland: more rare in Wales and Ireland.

Biennial.-Flowers in June, July, and August.

Root spindle-shaped. Stem from 2 to 3 feet high, upright, somewhat branched, solid, angular, cottony, leafy. Leaves alternate, narrow-oblong, pinnatifid, slightly hairy and cottony, toothed and spinous at the margin, decurrent and winging the stem interruptedly, the wings sinuated and spinous. Peduncle terminal, woolly, 1-flowered. Flowers large and handsome, drooping, of a crimson or purplish colour, with a sweet musky scent at all times of the day in warm weather. Scales of the Involucrum spearshaped, spreading, often tinged with purple; outer ones sharply spinous, all somewhat leafy. Filaments woolly. Pollen grey, globular, set with fine points. Styles bent back towards the side. Seeds compressed, polished, marked with dotted lines. Pappus minutely rough. This species is distinguished from other British Thistles by the nodding or drooping corolla.

I observed a white flowered variety of this in a pasture near the river Evenlode, between Ashford Mills and Stonesfield, Oxfordshire, July 30, 1831.

The dried flowers of this species of Carduus, and those of Cnicus lanceolatus, are used in some countries for a rennet to curdle milk. Many kinds of moths hover over the flowers at night. The down or pappus may be used as a material for making paper.

The seeds of most of the Thistles are a favourite food of small birds, particularly of the Goldfinch, (Fringilla Carduelis, Linn.); and flocks of these charming little creatures may be seen throughout the month of October, busy in picking out the seeds, and thus aiding the breeze of Autumn in scattering the down, which is, when thus divested of the seed,

"By the faintest zephyr blown
Through the shining skies."

This down, with the seed attached to it, bears a great resemblance to a shuttlecock, and by this admirable mechanism the seeds are transported by the wind to a considerable distance from the parent-plant; a wonderful contrivance in Nature to disseminate her productions. Of these feathered seeds Sir J. E. SMITH observes, (Introd. to Bot. ed. 5. p. 247.) "How little are children aware, as they blow away the seeds of Dandelion, or stick Burs in sport upon each other's clothes, that they are fulfilling one of the great ends of Nature!"

Botanists are undetermined as to the particular species of Thistle, which is the genuine emblem of Scotland. Some state, that the common Cotton Thistle, Onopordum Acanthium, is cultivated by the Scotch as their true badge; while others give the preference to the Spear-plume Thistle, Cnicus lanceolatus, as being the most common by their way-sides; but the usual heraldic figure seems most like the Musk Thistle, Carduus nutans, a plant frequent on limestone soils. The motto used by the Knights of the Thistle, or of St. Andrew, is peculiarly appropriate to their floral badge, Nemo me impune lacessit; "no one touches me with impunity;" or in plain Scotch, Ye maun't meddle wi' me.' See The Nat. Poetical Companion, pp. 64 & 272.

Few animals will eat the Thistle except the Ass, of which a curious anecdote is recorded. LE BRUN, a famous painter, born at Paris in 1619, having painted a Thistle on the fore-ground of a picture, which he placed in a court to dry, an Ass passing through the court, tempted by the sight of the Thistle, began licking it till it was wholly effaced. It is said that Le BRUN well deserved this high compliment from nature; a compliment infinitely more flattering than all the praises bestowed by human connoisseurs. He died in 1690. See Reid's Historical and Literary Botany, v. ii. p. 151.

IR.Del.

EUPATORIUM CANNABÍNUM. HEMP-AGRIMONY.
Fub by WBaxter Botanic Garden. Oxford.

1835.

C Mathews. Sc.

EUPATO'RIUM*.

Linnean Class and Order. SYNGENE'SIAT, POLYGA'MIA, EQUA'LIS.

Natural Order. COMPO'SITE§; tribe, CORYMBIFERÆ, Juss. Lindl. Syn pp. 140 & 142.; Introd. to Nat. Syst. of Bot. pp. 197 & 199.-COMPO'SITE; subord. EUPATO'REE; Loud. Hort. Brit. pp. 520 & 521.-SYNANTHE'REÆ; tribe, CORYMBI'FERE; Rich. by Macgilliv. pp. 454 & 455.-CORYMBI'FER E; sect. 1. Juss. Gen. Pl p. 177.-Sm. Gram. of Bot. pp. 121 & 123.-SYRINGALES; type, ASTERACEE; Burn. Outl. of Bot. v. ii. pp. 900 & 926.COMPO'SITE, Linn.

GEN. CHAR. Involucrum (common calyx) (see fig. 1.) oblong, imbricated; its scales strap-spear-shaped, upright, unequal, and unarmed. Corolla (see fig. 1.) compound, uniform; florets (see f. 2.) few, parallel, level-topped, perfect, funnel-shaped, regular; their limb in 5 equal, spreading segments. Filaments 5, hair-like, very short. Anthers united into a cylindrical tube, not prominent. Germen (see fig. 2.) very small, oblong, angular. Style (see fig. 2.) thread-shaped, prominent, cloven as far as the top of the anthers. Stigmas spreading, slender, downy. Seed-vessel none, except the slightly spreading involucrum. Seed (see figs. 3 & 4.) oblong, angular. Pappus (see figs. 2, 3, & 4.) sessile, rough or feathery, permanent. Receptacle (see figs. 5 & 6.) small, naked.

The oblong, imbricated involucrum; the few parallel, crowded, level-topped florets; the deeply cloven, prominent style; the rough pappus; and the naked receptacle; will distinguish this from other genera in the same class and order.

One species British.

EUPATO'RIUM CANNABI'NUM. Common Hemp-agrimony. Water-agrimony. Common Dutch-agrimony.

SPEC. CHAR. Leaves opposite, somewhat petiolate, in 3 or 5, deeply serrated, spear-shaped segments; the middle one the longest.

Engl. Bot. t. 428. -Ray's Syn. p. 179.-Linn. Sp. Pl. 1173.-Huds. Fl. Angl. (2nd ed.) p. 356.-Sm. Fl. Brit. v. ii. p. 860. Engl. Fl. v. iii. p. 400.-With. (7th ed.) v. iii. p. 919.-Gray's Nat. Arr. v. ii. p. 474.-Lindl. Syn. p. 142.Hook. Brit. Fl. p. 354.-Lihtf. Fl. Scot. v. i. p. 464.-Sibth. Fl. Oxon. p. 249.Abbot's Fl. Bedf. p. 178.-Purt. Mial. Fl. v. ii. p. 386.-Relh. Fl. Cant. (3rd ed.) p. 334.-Davies' Welsh Bot. p. 76.-Hook. Fl. Scot. p. 238.-Grev. Fl. Edin. p. 174.-Fl. Devon. pp. 135 & 158.-Johnst. Fl. of Berw. v. i. p. 180.Winch's Fl. of Northumb. and Durham, p. 53.--Walk. Fl. of Oxf. p. 234.Perry's Pl. Varvic. Selectæ, p. 69.-Jacob's West Devon. and Cornw. Fl.Bab. Fl. Bath. p. 25.-Mack. Catal. of Pl. of Irel. p. 72.-Eupatórium cannabinum mas, Johnson's Gerarde, p. 711.

LOCALITIES.-On the banks of rivers, wet ditches, and in watery places,

frequent.

Fig. 1. Involucrum and Florets.-Fig. 2. A separate Floret, with the Germen and Pappus.-Fig. 3. A Seed, crowned with the Pappus or proper Calyx.Fig. 4. The same, magnified.-Fig. 5. The Receptacle, and 3 of the outer permanent scales of the Involucrum.-Fig 6. The same, magnified.

From Eupator, the surname of MITHRIDATES, king of Pontus, who first brought this plant into use. HOOKER. + See Tussilago farfara, f. 91, n. t. See Sonchus oleraceus, f. 147, n. ‡. See Prenanthes muralis, f. 27, a.

Perennial. Flowers in July and August.

Root tufted, somewhat creeping, with many long fibres. Stems several, upright, from 2 to 4 feet high, branched, leafy, nearly cylindrical, rough with down, often of a brown or purplish colour, filled with pith. Leaves opposite, on short petioles; leaflets mostly 3, sometimes 5, spear-shaped, sharply serrated on the sides, very entire towards the point, deep green, downy and rather rough to the touch; sometimes the upper leaves are simple, but this seldom happens, except in seedling plants, the first year of flowering; this is var. B. of Sir J. E. SMITH. Flowers in crowded, pale purplish, convex, corymbose tufts, terminating the stem and upper branches. Involucrum (see fig. 1.) of few, unequal, imbricated, strap-spear-shaped scales, somewhat membranaceous and purplish at the edges, slightly hairy. Florets few, about 5 or 6, of a pinkish or purplish-red colour, sometimes white. Germen besprinkled with minute shining globules. Styles (see fig. 2.) longer than the florets, and deeply cleft. Pappus (see figs. 3 & 4.) rough with minute teeth. Seed oblong, angular, nearly black.

The plant has a slightly aromatic smell, and a bitter taste. A decoction of the root operates as a violent emetic and cathartic; it is sometimes taken by the lower classes in jaundice and dropsy, but it is a rough medicine, and must be used with caution. An ounce of the root in decoction is a full dose. In smaller doses the Dutch peasants take it as an alterative, and antiscorbutic. Scarcely any animal, except the goat, will eat this plant.–I have lately been informed, that ropy or string-mouldy bread may be cured by strewing the plant on the shelves, &c. where the bread is kept.

The variety above mentioned, with the upper leaves simple, is admirably figured in Mr. CURTIS's very elegant and beautiful work, "British Entomology," vol. ix. t. 400. This variety appears to have been found near Lee, on the road to Eltham, first by Mr. MARTYN, and afterwards by DILLENIUS; and it has been observed since near Bungay in Suffolk, by Mr. WOODWARD. There is no specimen of this preserved in the Dillenian Herbarium in the Oxford Garden; but in the Sherardian Herbarium there is a specimen of a variety of the same specics, in which the lower leaves are simple, and the upper ones compound or trifid.

The species of Eupatorium are rather numerous; Mr. LOUDON enumerates 54 in his Hortus Britannicus, as having been introduced into England. In SPRENGEL'S Systema Vegetabilium, published in 1826, 145 species are described, nearly the whole of which are natives of America; very few species inhabit Asia; scarcely any Africa; and the only species at present found in Europe appears to be cannabinum.

E. aromaticum, and E. odoratum, have very fragrant roots; and E. cannabinum, perfoliatum, satureiæfolium, and some other species, are so bitter that they have been employed as febrifuges. E. Aya-pana has been much extolled in Brazil as a diuretic and diaphoretic; E. perfoliatum for renal diseases; and E. rotundifolium as useful in consumption; but none have enjoyed so high, and apparently so undeserved a reputation, as the E. (now Mikania) Guaca, which the South Americans affirm to be an antidote to the bite of poisonous serpents; and which it was once hoped might have proved serviceable in that formidable disease, hydrophobia." See BURNETT's Outl. of Bot. p. 931.