WEEDS OP THE THISTLE FAMILY. 



171 



sis means "like the sun" and was given on account of the close re- 

 semblance to the sunflower from which the ox-ej^es differ by having 

 a more conical receptacle and by the withered ray-flowers being 

 persistent upon the thicker, less flattened achenes, instead of 

 falling off as in the sunflowers. The smooth ox-eye (H. helian- 

 thoides L.) is almost as common as the rough one and is found in 

 similar places. It has the leaves smooth and the teeth of pappus 

 dull or wanting. Remedies: repeated mowing or deep cutting; 

 abandoning fence rows and cultivating the ground. 



140. 



Black-eyed Susan. Darkey-head. Yellow 



RUDBECKIA HIRTA L. 



Daisy. (B. N. 2.) 



Stem simple or sparingly oranched, rough-hairy, often in tufts, 1-4 

 feet high: leaves thick, alternate, lanceolate or oblong, tapering, entire or 

 few-toothed. Heads numerous, terminal, 2-4 inches broad, long-stalked; 



receptacle conic with linear chaffy scales; 

 involucre cup-shaped, its bracts rough-hairy, 

 spreading, much shorter than the rays; disk 

 globose, its flowers brownish-purple; rays 

 10-20, orange. Achenes brown, 4-angled, 

 3/16 inch long; pappus none. (Fig. 131.) 



Common along streams, roadsides, 

 fence-rows, borders of thickets, etc. 

 June-Oct. Appears to be both an an- 

 nual and a biennial; in the former case 

 lower, more simple stemmed and bloom- 

 ing in late autumn ; as a biennial, stouter, 

 more branched and blossoming early. It 

 is sometimes troublesome in hay fields, 

 from which it may be removed by pull- 

 ing, repeated mowing or thorough cultivation. In everybody's 

 garden, along the gravelly banks of roadsides and streams, it is, 

 however, most prevalent. There in July and August it is one of 

 the most showy of our Composite and is a favorite with every one ; 

 for then the banks 



"Are gay with golden-rod, 



There blooming grasses nod, 

 And sunflowers small and yellow turn ever to the sun; 



Quaint darkey-heads are there, 



And daisies wild and fair, 

 In everybody's garden each flower's the loveliest one." 



Two other " cone-flowers " belonging to the genus Rudbeckia 

 are common enough to be called weeds, though they occupy for the 

 most part waste land. They are the thin-leaved cone-flower (R. 



Fig. 131. (After Clark.) 



