YELLOW AND ORANGE WILD FLOWERS 



There are about twenty species of this group found 

 in North America and Mexico. 



THE GOLDEN-RODS 



Solidago. Thistle Family. 



Heralding the advent of the final, and most gor- 

 geous floral pageant of the year, the monotoned 

 Golden-rods literally romp over everything that is 

 rompable from valley to peak. They form a most 

 conspicuous and truly regal escort for their consorts, 

 those bewildering hosts of starry Asters which, in 

 eager haste, strive to overtake them. Thoreau wrote : 



" The sun has shone on the earth, 



And the Golden-rod is his fruit. 

 The stars, too, have shone on it, 

 And the Asters are their fruit." 



The Golden-rods may represent the main crop of the 

 "sun's fruit," but surely the Dandelion and Buttercup, 

 in fact a hundred others for that matter, of this cloth- 

 of-gold, are entitled to some consideration in this 

 conclusion. The Golden-rod is so very well and 

 familiarly known that it requires little, if any, intro- 

 duction. There are upward of eighty species, per- 

 haps more, in the United States, and besides, there 

 are many hybrids intergrades which make them 

 extremely difficult to distinguish as distinct species. 

 We Americans hold a certain natural affinity toward 

 this purely native-bred beauty, and it is pretty generally 

 conceded to be the favourite for our national flower. 

 It has already been adopted as the State flower 



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