MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 301 



*'an old man," and refers to the hoary -headed appearance of 

 the plant when in seed, which is supposed to resemble the 

 silky white hair of the patriarch. 



Different species of Ragworts are quite numerous at high 

 altitudes. They all have yellow flowers of various hues, shad- 

 ing from primrose to amber and orange ; but the Golden 

 Ragwort is the most abundant of them all. It is principally 

 by their widely diverse foliage that the Senecios must be 

 distinguished. 



So bright and gay are these flowers, and all their fellows 

 of golden mean, that we are compelled to wonder what caused 

 Wordsworth, gentlest of poets and truest of Nature lovers, 



to write : 



" 111 befall the yellow flowers, 

 Children of the flaring hours." 



What would the meadows be without the Dandelions, the 

 Sunflowers, the Golden-rods, and the Arnicas } The land 

 would lose much of its charm in Autumn did not these bril- 

 liant blossoms blazon back the beams of the declining sun. 



5. triangularis, or Giant Ragwort, is a large coarse species 

 with closely set flower-heads and numerous long triangular 

 leaves, strongly veined, and sharply toothed at the edges. 



S. canus, or Silvery Groundsel, is exactly described by its 

 name, for it has white silky stems and leaves and pale yellow 

 flowers. It is a small plant and grows on the dry open 

 meadows. The basal leaves are oblong and have even mar- 

 gins, while the tiny stem -leaves are slightly toothed. 



6". lugens, or Black-tipped Groundsel, is so called on account 

 of the conspicuous little black tips distinguishing the bracts 

 of its involucres, or green cups, which hold up the deep 

 amber-coloured flowers. The basal leaves are very long and 

 toothed ; the upper leaves cling closely to the stem, and are 

 small, bract-like, and smooth. 



