The American Botanist, Vol. 15 (Classic Reprint) ~ Paperback ~ Unknown Author

Excerpt from The American Botanist, Vol. 15 One of the most familiar of weeds is a certain little plant with bushy; finely dissected foliage, which we have all seen on urban commons and vacant lots where the grass is kept close cropped by goats and goslings. In the country its favorite haunt is back of the barn and in the lane, though sometimes, too, we find it out front by the road in the congenial company of such democratic herbs as pigweed, ragweed and milkweed. Late in June it begins to display its pretty flowers which are exact duplicates of the ox-eye daisy, except that they are not so large as the latter. All through the summer these daisy-like blossoms may be seen cheerfully nodding to simple souls that find pleasure in quiet, everyday beauty; but should you be tempted to gather a bunch of the flowers, you will find the plant has so unpleasant and weedy an odor that you will probably throw your posy away in disgust. This rank smell is a characteristic which gives a key to one of its common names, to wit, the fetid chamomile (Anthemis cotula). It is indeed a poor relation of that bitter chamomile which is so important an item in the winter supply of medicinal herbs wherewith old-fashioned country housewives still hang the garret rafters. Common as it is on Uncle Sams farm, the plant is by no means an aboriginal American, but an immigrant within couple of hundred years from Europe. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.