402 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



species as gro^^ing wild in the basin of Cayuga lake. Those are 

 all found in Ihe vicinity of Comell University. Within 100 miles 

 of the city of New York twenty-five species have been recorded 

 by the Torrey Botanical Club. In the State of New Jersey there 

 are twenty-four species, and in the State of California only seven. 

 In the whole of North America north of Mexico, Dr. Gray includes 

 seventy-eight species. These figures give a general notion of the 

 natural distribution of the golden rods and the relative frequency 

 of their occurrence in different sections. 



But little attention has been given to the cultivation of the 

 golden rods in this country, largely owing, no doubt, to their 

 abundance as wild plants. In the old world, on the other hand, 

 where, as stated, only a single species is known, a considerable 

 number are cultivated for ornamental purposes. In Nicholson's 

 Dictionary of Gardening, fifteen species are named as cultivated 

 plants in England ; but it is stated that as " they are of a course 

 habit they are mostly confined to shrubberies and borders." In 

 the botanical garden of the University all the golden rods native 

 in th(? Cayuga Flora are cultivated by the Botanical Department 

 for scientific purposes; and it is of interest to note that nearly 

 all show a marked tendency to respond to the influence of cultiva- 

 tion in the direction of amelioration and improvement. 



There is no tendency of the golden rods, as a whole, to become 

 weeds, but a few species are regarded as intrusive and troubL^- 

 some in some sections. In Halsted's check list of Americrin 

 Weeds ten specii^^ are included; in Darlington's American Weeds 

 only ;i single species is specially named. In the State of New 

 York, especially in the central counties and in the dairy regions, 

 aboni loni' species have attract(Hl attention on account of their 

 habits ;is weeds. These may be named and described as follows: 



1. Solidago nemoralis. — Usually about a foot in height, the 

 foliage of a grayish-green color. The flowers begin to appear in 

 August — the earliest of the golden rods. This perhaps more 

 than any other species has assumed a pronounced weed-lik<' 

 character, in certain soils and exposures over a wide extent of 

 territory. As a weed it is common in upland pastures, especially 

 in cold and sterile soils. In such situations it drives out grasses 



