MOrXTAlX I'lOWI.Ks ^^^^ 



Stems. It grows only ivom three to six inches high, and is 

 found on lofty summits at 8000 and 9000 feet. The Howcrs 

 resemble bright yellow daisies, and are rather ragged looking. 

 At times, as the tra\eller stands upon the crest of .some 

 mountain top, where the earth seems \cry close to the sky of 

 perfect blue, the gamboge blossoms of the Aplopappus, cover- 

 ing the ground with a torrent of bloom, .seem to surge acro.ss 

 the alpine plateaus in a succession of golden waves. 



CANADA GOLDEN-ROD 



So/idiii^o Canadensis. Composite Family 



Stems: stout, little branched, puherulent. Leaves: alternate, lanceolate, 

 triple-nerved, acute at each end, the lower ones sharply .serrate and jjeti- 

 oled, the upper ones smaller, entire, sessile. Flowers: heads numerous, 

 of both tubular and radiate flowers, on the spreading or recurvinj; 

 branches of the large and dense panicles ; involucre campanulate. the 

 bracts linear, imbricated in several series : rays in one series, pistillate ; 

 disk-flowers nearly all perfect ; corolla tubular, hve-cleft. 



The Golden-rods, many species of which grow abundanth' 

 in the mountain districts, are, together with the Asters, the 

 handsomest of the late autumn flowers. Retaining the rieh 

 glow of the summer sun in their rii)e 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 jdaces : 

 by the dusty wayside and in the dee}) green forests; close t«» 

 the borders of the ice-born streams, and out in the open 

 meadows, where the ra}'s of light at noontide shine strongest. 

 In each of these localities the tall wands, bearing their wealth 

 of golden florets, wave gently to and fro, and never lan we 

 mistake the feathery plumes of the larger si)ecies. nr the 

 straisfht woodv stems of the smaller ones, which are so thickl\- 

 crowned by the tinv radiant dowers of this cjueen ot Nature's 

 garden. 



It is a more difficult matter, however, to differentiate 

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



