P \ RETHRUM Parthenium.
Common Feverfew.
SYNGENESIA Polygamia-superjlua.
G en. C har. Recept. naked. Seeds crowned with a
membranous margin. Cal. hemispherical, imbricated
with sharpish scales, bordered with a membrane.
Spec. Ch ar. Leaves compound, flat, on foot-stalks;
leaflets ovate, cut. Flower-stalks branched, corymbose.
Stem erect.
Syn . Pyrethrum Parthenium. Sm. FI. Brit. 900.
Relh. 334.
Matricaria Parthenium. Linn. Sp. PI. 1255. Huds.
371. With. 735. Hull. 184. Sibth.258. Abbot.185.
TVoodv. Suppl. t. 249.
Matricaria. Raii Syn. 187.
F R E Q U E N T in waste ground and about hedges, flowering
in June and July. Deserted gardens in towns are soon overrun
with it. The root is perennial, but seems to bear flowers the
first year b f its growth.
The stem is erect, branched, furrowed, leafy. Leaves on
foot-stalks, simply or doubly pinnated, lobed and c u t ; their
segments more or less ovate, decurrent, o f a dull palish green,
somewhat hoary. Flowers on long, simple or branched, angular
stalks, which are thicker towards their summit, and form
a sort o f terminal corymbus. C aly x hemispherical or flattish,
downy. Disk yellow. Radius short, white, sometimes wanting
; its florets approaching to the roundish figure o f those o f
the Achillece. Seeds furrowed, crowned with a small membrane,
which some authors have overlooked. Receptacle naked,
flattish. The flowers are often double; that is, the yellow
florets o f the disk all become ligulate and white like those o f
the radius.
Feverfew ranks with the plants in our two preceding plates
as an aromatic bitter and tonic, and is reported to be particularly
useful in hysteric disorders. Its english name seems to
imply a febrifuge quality.