YELLOW 



ELECAMPANE. 



Inula Helenium. Composite Family. 



Stem. Stout; three to five feet high. Leaves. Alternate; iarge; 

 woolly beneath ; the upper partly clasping. Flower-heads. Yellow ; large ; 

 composed of both ray and disk-flowers. 



When we see these great yellow disks peeping over the pasture 

 walls or flanking the country lanes, we feel that midsummer is at 

 its height. Flowers are often subservient courtiers, and make 

 acknowledgment of whatever debt they owe by that subtlest of 

 flatteries imitation. Did not the blossoms of the dawning year 

 frequently wear the livery of the snow which had thrown its pro- 

 tecting mantle over their first efforts ? And these new-comers 

 whose gross, rotund countenances so clearly betray the results of 

 high living do not they pay their respects to their great bene- 

 factor after the same fashion? with the result that a myriad 

 miniature suns shine upward from meadow and roadside. 



The stout, mucilaginous root of this plant is valued by farm- 

 ers as a horse-medicine, especially in epidemics of epizootic, one 

 of its common names in England being horse-heal. 



In ancient times the elecampane was considered an important 

 stimulant to the human brain and stomach, and it was men- 

 tioned as such over two thousand years ago in the writings of 

 Hippocrates, the " Father of Medicine." 



The common name is supposed to be a corruption of ala 

 Campania, and refers to the frequent occurrence of the plant in 

 that ancient province of Southern Italy. 



GOLDEN ASTER. 



Chrysopsis Mariana. Composite Family. 



Stem. Silky with long weak hairs when young. Leav x Alternate ; 

 oblong. Flower-heads. Golden yellow; rather large; composed of both 

 ray and disk-flowers. 



In dry places along the roadsides of Southern New York and 

 farther south, one can hardly fail to notice in late summer and 

 autumn the bright clusters of the golden aster. 



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