Plant Gardens 101

Daisy family
Compositae
Kris-san’thee-mum. An important genus of usually erect herbs, comprising about 100 species, nearly all from the temperate or subtropical regions of the Old World. Some have been cultivated for over 3000 years in China and Japan.

Description
Leaves alternate, often more or less divided, and strong-smelling. Generally much branched. Flowers daisylike, in all colors except blue and purple and in heads that are usually showy and immense, but sometimes small and buttonlike.

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Daisy family
Compositae
Hell-i-kry’zum. A well-known group of everlastings comprising over 300 species from the Old World.

Description
Herbs or shrubs with chiefly alternate leaves without marginal teeth. Flowerheads wholly of disk flowers, the parts chaffy, mostly yellow, and maintaining their color long after drying. The bracts of the involucre beneath the heads are colored and almost petal-like.

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Goosefoot family
Chenopodiaceae
Bee’ta. About 12 species of Old World herbs, and including the Garden Beet and Ornamental Chard.

Description
Flowers greenish, in spikes or panicles, without petals, and extremely simple. Leaves simple and oblongish, in a basal rosette or alternate on the stem; often red-stalked. Fruit an aggregate of 2 or more flowers joined together at the base and forming a dry, corky cluster, called a seed ball.

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Daisy family
Compositae
Sen-ee’si-o. Groundsel ; Ragwort . Over 2000 species of herbs, shrubs, or small trees, and a few climbers, found throughout the world.

Description
Leaves alternate or basal. This large and diverse genus is difficult to define, the chief difference being in the rings of bracts that surround the head. These do not overlap each other, and the lower bracts are scale-like, giving a calyxlike appearance to the upper ring of bracts. Flowerheads generally yellow, but sometimes purple, red, blue, or white; solitary or in clusters. Heads often showy, composed of ray and disk flowers, but sometimes lacking ray flowers.

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Snapdragon family
Scrophulariaceae
Pen-stee’mon. Beardtongue . A large genus of 250 species of herbs, rarely shrubs, chiefly from the w. U.S. Many of the species are important bee plants in the West.

Description
Leaves opposite or whorled, and showy. Flowers 2-lipped, tubular, mostly in terminal racemes or panicles. Calyx 5-parted. Corolla with the lower lip 3-lobed, the upper lip 2-lobed. Stamens 5, with 4 fertile, the fifth sterile and often bearded.

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Poppy family
Papaveraceae
Pap-a’ver. The true poppies comprise a genus of about 50 species of herbs found mostly in the temperate regions of Europe and Asia and a few in w. North America.

Description
Leaves basal, generally many, usually deeply segmented and hairy. Flowers solitary, on a long slender stalk, nodding when in bud, but straightening as the flower opens. Calyx of 2 sepals, which fall when the petals open. Corolla of 5 petals, vividly colored red, violet, yellow, or white, sometimes blotched at the base. Stamens numerous. If cut or broken, plant exudes a milky substance.

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Daisy family
Compositae
Os-tee-o-sperm’um. Seventy species of South African herbs and shrubs, allied to Calendula .

Description
Leaves alternate, occasionally opposite, entire, sometimes with toothed edges. Flowers solitary on terminal stems or in loose panicles.

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Pink family
Caryophyllaceae
Lick’nis. Catchfly ; Campion . A genus of about 35 herbs, mostly from the north temperate zone and northward, some old garden favorites.

Description
Erect plants, often with sticky hairs. Leaves opposite, stipules absent. Calyx with 5 teeth. Petals 5, with claw at base, limb rounded or sometimes 2-cleft or fringed. Stamens 10.

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Hemp family
Cannabinaceae
Hew’mew-lus. Three species of rough-stemmed vines, called hops, natives of the north temperate zone.

Description
Leaves opposite, more or less lobed. Male and female flowers green, on separate plants. Male flowers in catkinlike racemes, with a 5-parted calyx, no petals, 5 stamens. Female flowers in pairs beneath large bracts, which at maturity form a conelike body that contains lupulin, used in beer-making.

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Mustard family
Cruciferae
Ky-ran’thus. Perhaps a dozen perennial herbs, scattered from Madeira to the Himalayas, one the widely cultivated Wallflower.

Description
Leaves narrow with few marginal teeth. Flowers with 4-clawed petals, yellow or orange-brown, fragrant.

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Grass family
Gramineae
Pen-i-see’tum. A genus of 80 species of chiefly tropical grasses, some ornamental.

Description
Leaf blades flat and narrow, sometimes colored. Flowers in a spikelike panicle, the spikelets having beneath them bristles, sometimes plumed, often longer than the spikelets.

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Daisy family
Compositae
Sen-tor’ree-a. A genus of chiefly Eurasian herbs comprising over 400 species.

Description
Leaves basal or alternate on stems, entire to divided, not spiny. Flowerheads contain tubular flowers; along the edge, they are often expanded and raylike. Below the head is a series of overlapping bracts.

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Sunflower family
Compositae
Sin ‘a-ra. About a dozen coarse, thistle-like herbs, mostly from the Mediterranean region.

Description
Leaves large, more or less lobed, cut, or both, sometimes spiny. Flowers tubular, disk-shaped, no rays, in large, dense heads, one terminating most of the larger branches. Cluster of bracts in many series below and surrounding each head, spiny-tipped and purple in the Cardoon.

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Carrot family
Umbelliferae
A-ne’thum. Common Dill . The fruits and leaves are used for seasoning. Native to the Old World.

Description
Leaves are pinnately divided. Flowers small and borne in umbels.

How to Grow
Easily grown from seed. Sow in a sunny, open place with average soil. Prefers cool weather.

Anethum graveolens
Common Dill . To 2 ft. (75 cm) high. Flowers less than ? in. (6 mm) wide, yellowish, the petals soon falling, arranged in a large umbel. Fruit aromatic, flattened. Sw. Asia. Half-hardy annual.

Pink family
Caryophyllaceae
Lick’nis. Catchfly ; Campion . A genus of about 35 herbs, mostly from the north temperate zone and northward, some old garden favorites.

Description
Erect plants, often with sticky hairs. Leaves opposite, stipules absent. Calyx with 5 teeth. Petals 5, with claw at base, limb rounded or sometimes 2-cleft or fringed. Stamens 10.

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Potato family
Solanaceae
Ny-kan’dra. A single strong-growing species from Peru that has escaped from cultivation and become naturalized in tropical America and U.S. Often grown in the garden for its dried seed cases.

Description
Leaves alternate, ovalish, with toothed margins. Flowers large, calyx 5-parted, stamens 5. Fruit a 3- to 5-celled, many seeded berry enclosed in an inflated calyx.

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Poppy family
Papaveraceae
Hun-nee-man-i’a. A single species related to Eschscholzia , but with 2 separate sepals.

Description
Leaves bluish green and dissected into blunt, narrow segments. Flowers showy, with 4 petals and 2 sepals.

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Daisy family
Compositae
Ger’ber-ra. A genus of perhaps 70 species of South African or Asiatic, mostly stemless, herbs.

Description
From a basal rosette of leaves arise stout stalks bearing a single daisylike flower.

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Daisy family
Compositae
Rood-beck’i-a. Coneflower . North American hardy herbs, comprising about 25 species.

Description
Leaves usually alternate, simple or compound, in some species much cut and lance-shaped, veins prominent, margins deeply toothed toward the tip. Flowers in terminal or axillary heads, generally yellow, in most species the disk flowers being brown or black.

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Daisy family
Compositae
Bay-lay’a. A small genus of 3 or 4 species of herbs, native to dry desert areas, with only one of gardening interest.

Description
Leaves alternate, at base and on lower stem. Flowerheads solitary, their disk and ray flowers yellow. Ray flowers become papery and can be used for dried arrangements.

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