186 CHRYSOPSIS MARIANA. MARYLAND GOLDEN STAR. 



although the reasons advanced by him arc certainly very good. 

 Under these circumstances, we have thought it advisable to 

 give both names a place at the head of our chapter. 



The genus Chrysopsis is not far removed from the true 

 Asters, and is intermediate between them and the European 

 genus Inula, to which Elecampane belongs. The species to 

 which this chapter is devoted was itself formerly looked upon 

 as an Inula, and Miller, in his " Gardener's Dictionary," pub- 

 lished in 1760, speaks of it as Inula Mariana. Nuttall was the 

 first to point out the essential differences between the two 

 genera in 18 18, and to him we also owe the present name of 

 our genus, Chrysopsis, which, as he tells us, he gave to it from 

 the fact that, although it had some of the characters of a class 

 of Asters with corymbose inflorescence, it always differed from 

 the latter in the "prevailing yellow color of the flowers." In 

 most cases, ^botanists regard color very slightly in establishing 

 the characters of a genus, and the peculiarity must, therefore, 

 have been very striking in this instance to have induced Nuttall 

 to base a generic name on it. Chrysopsis is from the Greek 

 words chrysos, gold, and opsz's, aspect, appearance, sight. Our 

 genus, however, differs from Inula not only in general appear- 

 ance, which, as a matter of course, carries some weight in a 

 natural system, but there is also a difference in the seeds. 

 In our plants, they are compressed and ovate-oblong, while in 

 Inula they are either four-sided or round. 



As Inula is not a real native plant in the United States, 

 although it grows wild in many localities, having escaped from 

 gardens, it will not find a place in our work ; but considering 

 that it was so closely connected with our Chrysopsis for a long 

 time, and as we may have no opportunity to refer to it again, 

 we may perhaps be excused for dwelling for a moment on the 

 history of the family name, which formerly used to be com- 

 mon to both. The botanical name of Elecampane is Inula 

 Helenium. The attempts to trace the etymology of the generic 

 appellation, Inula, have been given up as barren by most bota- 



