212 Flora of the Western States. P^^ay, 



form arising above the surrounding weeds, its rounded head-buds clothed 

 with polished scales, and impatiently waited the slow expansion of its 

 flowerS: that you might apply the test of analysis, and learn the name 

 and rank of the stranger. Meanwhile, the coarser species of the sun- 

 Jlower (Helianthus), have begun their career, cheering the prairies and 

 barrens alike, with their starry heads. Here is the patience of the 

 botanist put to trial in the analysis of the numerous and almost undis- 

 tinguishable species of Helianthus ! 



Conspicuous in their season appear the tall tribes of the Rudbeckias. 

 Yonder rolling prairie has suddenly become variegated with large patches 

 of yellow, where myriads of the R. hirta are basking in the sun. Each 

 flower-head consists of a central cone of dark purple florets, surrounded 

 at its base by about fifteen expansive, shining rays. Here, then, is the 

 peculiar home of the cone-floicers, although we had previously met with 

 a few individuals here and there at the East. Then follow the R. 

 fulgida and R. speciosa, in succession, all showy, but coarse and rough, 

 croiivning the autumn. Strongly akin to these, but more refined and 

 elegant, is the Lepachys pinnata, arising, with an erect and slender stalk, 

 to the stature of a man, and bearing at the top a few heads, so remarka- 

 ble as to distinguish it at sight from all its congeners. The purple disk 

 is an elevated cone, and the dozen long rays hang lazily pendulous from 

 around the base. Another conspicuous object in the late summer is 

 the tall purple cone-Jiower (Echinacea purpurea), whose disk and rays 

 are both bright purple, and whose "chaff" terminates in sharp spines. 



We must not forget to mention here, the soft dignity of those floral 

 queens, the various species of the Liatris. These are all prairie-born, 

 distinguished in royal purple, exhibiting their bright flowers in erect or 

 nodding plumes of more than royal beauty. The earliest, L. spicata, 

 appears in July and August, in such numbers as to impart its own rich, 

 purple hue to all the wide plain, as far as the eye can reach. Now, 

 when from this fair flower we turn to contemplate the coarse Sylphium, 

 how wide the contrast ! Unmitigated yellow again meets our tired 

 vision, rough and slovenly herbage our recoiling touch I But this is 

 the famous polar plant, and we must not fail to notice it. Often ten 

 feet in hight, it stands stiffly erect, all parts of it redolent of turpen- 

 tine. The large flower-heads, usually nodding, are said to look toward 

 the sun at all hours of the day. This, however, appears to be a mere 

 fancy, as wc have seen these flowers looking simultaneously toward all 

 parts of the heavens. Eive species of Silphium are natives of our prai- 

 ries, all abounding in resin, and when they burn, vast volumes of smoke 

 roll before the flames. 



