Addisonia 19 



(Plate 202) 



COREOPSIS PUBESCENS 

 Star-tickseed 



Native of the southeastern United States 



Family Carduacibae Thisti<e Family 



Coreopsis pubescens'EW.Bot.S. CScOa.. 2: i'^l. 1823. 



Dahlias, tickseeds, bur-marigolds, and cosmos need introduction 

 to scarcely anyone. These closely related plants, although often 

 quite different in aspect, are widely cultivated for ornament and 

 have been, perhaps, for ages. 



The genus of the tickseeds — Coreopsis — was founded not only on 

 an American plant but on one of the more widely distributed of our 

 numerous American species. The type of the genus — Coreopsis 

 lanceolata — curiously enough, is not only the most commonly culti- 

 vated tickseed, but it is also the most commonly naturalized one; 

 besides having been scattered in many places from flower gardens, 

 it has been disseminated widely in connection with the planting of 

 lawn-seeds, vegetable-seeds, and the various grains. 



The flower-heads of the above mentioned species and those of our 

 subject look alike. The plant here figured, however, has brighter 

 green foliage and broader leaves; its flowers are deeper-yellow. 

 Hence, the name "gold- jacket" which is locally applied to it. 



Its habit of growth is often strikingly like that of the everlastings 

 or ladies' -tobacco, Antennaria. From a central perennial root- 

 system, stolons are given off radially. This habit is even more 

 pronounced in the other gold-jacket of the south, Coreopsis auri- 

 culata, known in literature as the running-tickseed. Hence, through 

 the spring and summer in its native haunts we find colony-like 

 patches supporting several or numerous bright yellow flower-heads. 



The stoloniferous habit of growth makes this tickseed and the 



related running-tickseed desirable as a bedding plant and border 



plant in gardens and one adapted to filling in open spaces. The 



early green foliage to which the lobing of the leaves lend additional 



variety, and the protracted flowering season make it very desirable 



for gardens. 



The star-tickseed is a perennial her bspreading freely by stolons. 

 The flowering stems arise from the ends of the stolons; they are 

 leafy and hairy below; naked and hairless or nearly so above, in 

 some of the cultivated forms, where they sometimes branch. The 



