MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 293 



with entire rough margins. It grows in dry soil and rears 

 its ckisters of golden hloom where the sunlight and shade 

 interlace at the edge of the forests. 



S. 7ienioralis^ or Gray Golden-rod, is so called on account 

 of its gray-green cottony stems and leaves. The latter are 

 lance-shaped and sharply toothed. 



Thus we see that the Golden-rods grow everywhere, from 

 the high hill-crests to the deep sweet valleys ; that some 

 species attain to a height of six feet under certain very favour- 

 able conditions, while others grow in dwarf alpine forms, well- 

 nigh prostrate upon the ground ; some are slender-stemmed, 

 some have stout woody support ; some bear big branching 

 panicles of abundant bloom, while others again have but few 

 blossoms closely clustered about their erect stalks. Yet in 

 spite of all these many differences between the various species, 

 the Golden-rods are quite unmistakable as a genus. 



GIANT SUNFLOWER 



Helianthus giganteus. Composite Family 



Perennial by fleshy roots and creeping rootstocks. Stems : erect, his- 

 pid, branched near the summit. Leaves : lanceolate, very rough above, 

 pubescent beneath, serrate, acuminate at the apex, narrowed at the base. 

 Flowers: rays spreading, entire; disk-flowers perfect, fertile: corolla tu- 

 bular, the tube short, the limb five-lobed ; involucre hemispheric, hirsute. 



What the cultivated Sunflower is to the other dwellers 

 in old-fashioned gardens the wild Giant Sunflower is to the 

 other dwellers in the woodlands. It is the gorgeous ornament 

 and lord of the locality, one of the most conspicuous of all the 

 many flowers that might fairly be designated by the term helios^ 

 "the sun," and anthos, ''a flower"; for the yellow Asters, 

 Aplopappi, Gaillardias, Arnicas, and Ragworts are really all 

 equally amenable to this title. 



The Giant Sunflower has five large blossoms, composed of 

 numerous bright yellow rays and a disk of perfect fertile florets. 

 The leaves are lance-shaped and very rough to the touch. 



