Yellow and Orange 



first place, such an association of florets makes a far more conspic- 

 uous advertisement than a single flower, one that can be seen 

 by insects at a great distance ; for most of the composite plants 

 live in large colonies, each plant, as well as each floret, helping the 

 others in attracting their benefactors' attention. The facility with 

 which insects are enabled to collect both pollen and nectar makes 

 the golden-rods exceedingly popular restaurants. Finally, the 

 visits of insects are more likely to prove effectual, because any one 

 that alights must touch several or many florets, and cross-pollin- 

 ate them simply by crawling over a head. The disk florets mostly 

 contain both stamens and pistil, while the ray florets in one series 

 are all male. Immense numbers of wasps, hornets, bees, flies, 

 beetles, and "bugs" feast without effort here : indeed, the bud- 

 ding entomologist might form a large collection of Hymenoptera, 

 Diptera, Coleoptera, and Hemiptera from among the visitors to a 

 single field of golden-rod alone. Usually to be discovered among 

 the throng are the velvety black Lytta or Cantharis, that impostor 

 wasp-beetle, the black and yellow wavy-banded, red-legged 

 locust-tree borer, and the painted Clvtus, banded with yellow and 

 sable, squeaking contentedly as he gnaws the florets that feed him. 

 Where the slender, brown, plume-tipped wands etch their 

 charming outline above the snow-covered fields, how the spar- 

 rows, finches, buntings, and juncos love to congregate, of course 

 helping to scatter the seeds to the wind while satisfying their 

 hunger on the swaying, down-curved stalks. Now that the 

 leaves are gone, some of the golden-rod stems are seen to bulge 

 as if a tiny ball were concealed under the bark. In spring a little 

 winged tenant, a fly, will emerge from the gall that has been his 

 cradle all winter. 



Elecampane; Horseheal; Yellow Starwort 

 {Inula Helenium) Thistle family 



Flower-heads — Large, yellow, solitary or a few, 2 to 4 in. across, 

 on long, stout peduncles ; the scaly green involucre nearly 1 in. 

 high, holding disk florets surrounded by a fringe of long, very 

 narrow, 3-toothed ray florets. Stem: Usually unbranched, 

 2 to 6 ft. high, hairy above. Leaves: Alternate, large, broadly 

 oblong, pointed, saw-edged, rough above, woolly beneath ; 

 some with heart-shaped, clasping bases. 



Preferred Habitat — Roadsides, fields, fence rows, damp pastures. 



Flowering Season — July — September. 



Distribution — Nova Scotia to the Carolinas, and westward to Min- 

 nesota and Missouri. 



"September may be described as the month of tall weeds," 

 says John Burroughs. " Where they have been suffered to stand, 



352 



