Daisy family

Polynesia sonchifolia.

Unlike almost everything else we've discussed today, the legumes, the embelifers, the brassicas, the nightshades, yacon is a member of the Asteraceae family.

Like sunflowers.

Exactly.

Mm-hmm

... um, it's in the Aster, Asteraceae family.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Let us now consider some of the methods by which weeds spread by the aid of external natural agencies, as wind, water, and animals.

The common thistle, dandelion, wild lettuce, and many other plants of the Compositae family have seeds to which a part of the flower, calyx, adheres in the form of a downy parachute, pappus.

The seeds of the common milkweed are provided with a tuft of hairs, which is a direct outgrowth from the seed coat.

In the fall of the year, the air is full of these little fluffy bodies, but if we examine them carefully, we will find that the seed has dropped from all of those sailing along so easily in a gentle breeze.

It will grow back stronger next spring.

It belongs to the very large Asteraceae family.

The English name dandelion comes from the French dent de lion, lion's tooth, referring to the serrated shape of the leaf.

Its Latin name is Taraxacum officinale.

You know, they look like a little strap, a little strap-like petal.

Well, that little strap is actually one flower, and the capitulum contains a multitude.

It does not have tubulate flowers, unlike other Asteraceae.

So those tubulate flowers look like little tubes, but dandelion flower doesn't have them.

The

artichoke belongs to the Asteraceae family, which is commonly known as the daisy sunflower or aster

family.

Wow, so it's basically a sunflower.

But it's not the same as most of the milk thistle on the market is standardized milk thistle.

Okay? And we're talking about Silybum marianum, which is a member of the Asteraceae family, okay? And, um, I'm gonna call it the seed, and it's technically a fruit, okay? It's the seed of the plant, and most people know that.

Some people don't.

They just call it milk thistle.

And we will be looking at Achillea millefolium, which is known in popular language as yarrow.

Now, um, this is a flowering plant, again, in the Asteraceae family, and there's all sorts of interesting common names for these.

I've never seen these, but I always have fun when I start doing research for this, these Materia Medica Mondays, 'cause when you look in different herbals, especially older ones, you get all these cool names.

And this one I think is interesting.

And, uh, the other one I like is sanguinary.

Sanguine is a Latin word for the blood humor.

So, uh, this Asteraceae family, which is the, uh, sunflower or daisy family, this means that it has lots of flowers in its head and also a deep taproot.

And the fo- the, uh, focus of this family, uh, is that it collects sunlight in all those little flowers, and it transforms it into the soil.

The latter, the parsleys and their relatives.

With the exception of tarragon, which belongs to the Compositae, parsley and a few of its relatives, which have deserted their own ranks, all the important leaf herbs belong to the Labiatae, and without a notable exception, all the herbs whose seeds are used for flavoring belong to the Umbelliferae.

Fennel flower, which belongs to the natural order Ranunculaceae, or crowfoot family, is a candidate for admission to the seed sodality.

Costmary and southernwood of the Compositae seek membership with the leaf faction.

Rue of the Rutaceae and tansy of the Compositae, in spite of suspension for their boldness and ill-breeding, occasionally force their way back into the domain of the leaf herbs.

Marigold, a composite, forms a clique by itself, the most exclusive club of all.

It has admitted no members, and there seem to be no candidates.

Each carpel bears five longitudinal prominent ribs and several, often four, lesser intermediate ones, in the intervals between which numerous oil ducts have their openings from the interior of the fruit.