Yellow to Orange Flowers 351 



BLACK-EYED SUSAN 



Rudbeckia hirta. Composite Family 



Stems: simple or sparingly branched, often tufted. Leaves: thick, 

 serrate with low teeth or entire, lanceolate, the lower and basal ones 

 petioled, the upper ones narrow, sessile, acute. Flowers: heads few or 

 solitary. Fruit: achenes four-angled, obtuse or truncate at the apex, 

 pappus none. 



This plant has many names, and among them that of 

 Golden Jerusalem possibly fits it best, since it has truly 

 shining orange-yellow flowers. It is hairy throughout, 

 with thick lance-shaped, almost entire leaves, striking flower 

 heads of ten to twenty bright rays, and a dark purple-brown 

 globose disk that is extremely prominent. 



GIANT SUNFLOWER 



Helianthus giganteus. Composite Family 



Perennial by fleshy roots and creeping rootstocks. Stems: erect, his- 

 pid, branched near the summit. Leaves: lanceolate, very rough above, 

 pubescent beneath, serrate, acuminate at the apex, narrowed at the base. 

 Flowers: rays spreading, entire; disk-flowers perfect, fertile; corolla 

 tubular, the tube short, the limb five-lobed; involucre hemispheric, 

 hirsute. 



What the cultivated Sunflower is to the other dwellers 

 in old-fashioned gardens the wild Giant Sunflower is to the 

 other dwellers in the woodlands. It is the gorgeous orna- 

 ment and lord of the locality, one of the most conspicuous 

 of the many flowers that might fairly be designated by 

 the term helios, " the sun," and anthos, " a flower " ; for the 

 yellow Asters, Gaillardias, Arnicas, and Ragworts are really 

 all equally amenable to this title. 



The Giant Sunflower has large blossoms, composed of 

 numerous bright yellow rays and a disk of perfect fertile 



