PRAIRIE FLOWERS OF LATE AUTUMN. 233 



Intermixed with this most richly attired of all the asters is the 

 Riddell golden-rod (Solidago Riddellii) ; quite different from all 

 the other Solidagos in having the stems clothed with long, 

 smooth, narrow leaves, which gradually curve upward and then 

 describe a half circle downward. The large clusters of flowers in 

 the medium-sized heads have a depth of auriferous color which 

 can not fail to attract all lovers of yellow. The golden-rod most 

 nearly like the above is Solidago rigida, an earlier bloomer but 

 holds its own against the early frosts. As the name suggests, the 

 stem is large and stiff or rigid, the leaves are sessile, large, thick, 

 and the heads of the blossoms form a broad, flat-topped inflores- 

 cence, standing three or more feet from the high, dry prairie soil. 

 Among the other golden-rods were Solidago speciosa and the 

 altogether common and yet far from the least attractive species, 

 Solidago canadensis. This furnishes a serious puzzle to the 

 careless student, but the lover of slight differences in plants finds 

 in this species with its various varieties a subject of absorbing 

 interest. Aster longifolia and A. midtiflorus vie with each other 

 in making the waste places bright and attractive during the 

 October days, and exhibit their powers to resist the destructive 

 agencies of the closing days of autumn by shaking their leafy 

 stems and bright fresh heads of blossoms in the storms of bleak 

 November. The three asters already named are among the last 

 of all the prairie flowers, and seem to be full of life when the 

 streams are icy in the morning and the sunny side of a log is a 

 favorite haunt of the birds of winter. 



Along the small brooks and over the lowland, where the fog 

 damp and chill settle at early sunset, the great sunflower (Heli- 

 anthus grosse-serratus) may wave its head, while around it is the 

 retirement of the winter condition. Helenium autumnale, with 

 its handsome heads, with lemon-yellow notched ray flowers and 

 peculiar velvety decurrent leaves, is not common but attractive. 

 We do not wonder that it lingers in the lap of early winter, 

 because the atmosphere of its whole being is one of endurance, 

 but of the quiet sort befitting the Quaker and not that of the 

 bully. 



But there are many late autumn plants scattered through other 

 than the sunflower family. Along the streams and standing knee- 

 deep in the wasted and decaying rubbish of the borders is the 

 long, leafy stem of the Physostegia virginica, with its slender 

 spike of showy rose and purplish-white blossoms. It is one of the 

 mints in all save the minty quality, and for this peculiar lack- 

 ing it is often a source of trouble to the tyro in classification. 

 The flowers are complex, the stamens possess an abundance of 

 hairs, in which the circulation of protoplasm may be seen ; and, 

 besides, insects visit them. 



