8o WILD, OR NATIVE FLOWERS. 



near lakes and streams, is the favourite haunt of this pretty Aster. The 

 plant is much branched, the branches growing at right-angles to the stem; 

 crossed with narrow leaves, and bearing an abundance of small, daisy-like 

 blossoms. On the springy shores of ponds and the banks of low creeks 

 in upright, single-headed Aster, A. cestivus, may be seen, with bright azure 

 rays and yellow disc, together with a tall woody-stemmed flat-topped, 

 coarsely -rayed, white species, Z'/!//c^/^!7y'?/i- w///v//rt'///5', (T. & G.). The 

 large-flowered, branching, many-blossomed, purple- rayed Asters are chiefly 

 found in dry fields, by wayside fences, and among loose rocks and stones, 

 giving beauty where all else is rough and unsightly, making the desert to 

 blossom as a garden ; so bountiful is Nature ; so beneficent is the Creator 

 in all His works ; so lavishly does He scatter man's path with flowers, that 

 his eye may be gladdened and his heart may rejoice in the beautiful things 

 of the earth on which he is a sojourner. Should we not, therefore, praise 

 Him even for the lowly herbs and the lovely blossoms that adorn our 

 paths. 



Cone-flower — Rudbeckia Jihta, (L.) 



The Cone-flower is one of the handsomest of our rayed flowers. 

 The gorgeous flaming orange dress, with the deep purple disc of almost 

 metallic lustre, is one of the ornaments of all our wild open prarie-like 

 plains during the hot months of July, August and September. We find 

 the Cone-flower on sunny spots among the wild herbage of grassy 

 thickets, associated with wild Sunflowers, Asters and other plants of 

 the widely diffused Composite Order. 



Many of these compound flowers possess medicinal qualities. Some, 

 as the Sow-thistle, Dandelion, Wild Lettuce, and others, are narcotic, 

 being supplied with an abundance of bitter milky juice. The Sunflower, 

 Coreopsis, Cone-flower, Ragweed, and Tansy, contain resinous properties. 



The beautiful Aster family, if not remarkable for any peculiarly 

 useful qualities, contains many highly ornamental plants. Numerous 

 species of these charming flowers belong to our Canadian flora ; linger- 

 ing with us 



"When fairer flowers are all decayed," 



brightening the waste places and banks of lakes and lonely streams 

 with starry flowers of every hue and shade — white, pearly-blue and 

 deep purple. 



The Cone-flower is from one to three feet in height, the stem simple, 

 or branching, each branchlet terminating in a single head. Th6 rays are 

 of a deep f)range colour, varying to yellow ; the leaves broadly lanceolate, 

 sometimes once or twice lobed, partly clasping the rough, hairy stem, 



