Yellow to Orange Flowers 347 



The Golden-rods, many species of which grow abun- 

 dantly in the mountain districts, are, together with the 

 Asters, the handsomest of the late autumn flowers. Re- 

 taining the rich glow of the summer sun in their ripe yellow 

 blossoms, they brighten the slopes and border the trails with 

 a reflected glory. For the Golden-rod is at home in all 

 kinds of places : by the dusty wayside and in the deep green 

 forests; close to the borders of the ice-born streams, and 

 out in the open meadows, where the rays of light at noon- 

 tide shine strongest. In each of these localities the tall 

 wands, bearing their wealth of golden florets, wave gently 

 to and fro, and never can we mistake the feathery plumes 

 of the larger species, or the straight woody stems of the 

 smaller ones, which are so thickly crowned by the tiny radi- 

 ant flowers of this queen of Nature's garden. 



It is a more difficult matter, however, to differentiate 

 between the many species of Golden-rod that grow at high 

 altitudes. The Canada Golden-rod is perhaps the easiest 

 one to recognize, since it is the largest as well as the hand- 

 somest of its tribe, and has big branching panicles of close- 

 clustered blossoms, very long, narrow, pointed leaves of a 

 dull grayish-green hue, and stout woody stems, which have 

 a cottony appearance and attain an average height of three 

 feet. 



So numerous are the Golden-rods on this continent that 

 it is possible to note only a few of the more conspicuous 

 species which the traveller is likely to find and gather in the 

 course of his wanderings amid the great hills, where 



" Along the roadside, like the flowers of gold 

 That tawny Incas for their gardens wrought, 

 Heavy with sunshine droops the Golden-rod." 



