202 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 



some golden-yellow rays whose red spot is very small, 

 and a disk which is yellow instead of brown. The 

 leaves are oblong, with three to five divisions. Both 

 of these varieties come from Texas, and they prodnce 

 larger and finer flowers in the cultivated state. All 

 three of the varieties mentioned are annuals ; there 

 are two pei-ennial varieties which are not quite so 

 common in the garden — they are C. lanceolata and 

 C auriculata. Both grow wild in the West and 

 South, and both have entirely yellow flowers. The 

 former variety is commonly cultivated by the florists ; 

 the latter is taller and is leafy almost to the top ; both 

 flower in early summer. The coreopsis is a very near 

 relative of the bur-marigold, and it closely resembles 

 tlie variety of that flower named Bidens chrysanthe- 

 7noides. In the garden, coreopsis blooms all summer 

 and as late as September. 



Dahlia. The common garden dahlia is also a 



Dahlia variabilis, j^g^r relative of coreopsis. It comes 

 to us from Mexico. I fear we do not sufficiently ap- 

 preciate the fact that we are indebted to this country 

 and not to Europe for a great many of our most 

 beautiful garden flowers. The tuberose, Poinsettia 

 {Euphorbia pulchei^ima)^ Tigridia, Milla hiflora^ 

 Bessera elegans, zinnia, marigold, and yucca all come 

 from Mexico. The dahlia is named for a Swedish 

 botanist, Dahl, a contemporary of the great botanist 



