HELENIUM TENUIFOLIUM. 



SLENDER-LEAVED SNEEZEWORT. 



NATURAL ORDER, COMPOSIT.'E. (Astekace.k or Lindlev.) 



1 1 Ei.ENiUM TENUIFOLIUM, Nuttall. — Smooth; stem slender, verj- leafy; leaves narrow-linear, 

 entire; heads on long and slender peduncles; scales of the involucre subulate; scales of 

 the pappus ovate, entire, abruptly awned; achenia villous. Stem one to two feet high. 

 Branches erect. (Chapman's Flora of the Southern United States. See also Wood's Class- 

 Book rf Botany.) 



|ELLOW, aster-like blossoms are so common among the 

 wild flowers of the United States that they arc not very- 

 likely to attract special attention, unless they arc peculiarly 

 beautiful. Our Hclcnuini tcnuifolium is one of these excep- 

 tions, and whoever has seen it in its native places — the prairies 

 of Texas and Arkansas, which are celebrated for their wild flow- 

 ers — will bear testimony to the fact that it adds largely to the 

 general loveliness of the scenery in those j^arts of our common 

 country. Those, however, who have not had the pri\-ilcge of 

 gathering this plant in its native wilds can grow it in gardens, 

 in which, according to the testimony of the florists who have 

 cultivated it, it is a most desirable acquisition. In England, 

 where good border-flowers are especially sought, it is so highly 

 appreciated that the " Garden," a leading horticultural magazine 

 published in London, recently gave an illustration of it, show- 

 ing what a beautiful flower it will make under careful cultiva- 

 tion. This engraving represents the plant as a perfect bouquet, 

 the rounded flower-cluster of the single plant measuring two 

 thirds of its height, and exhibiting many scores of blossoms 

 all expanded at the same time. Prof. Wood says that our spe- 



