I 



236 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:6— Sept., 1918 



beauties and will never recognize these friends, no matter if they 

 keep nodding all their lives. 



A little poem by Carrie W. Bronson brings out this friendly 

 manner of the Goldenrod. 



LADY GOLDENROD 



O, pretty Lady Goldenrod, 



I'm glad you've come to town! 

 I saw you standing by the gate, 



All in your yellow gown. 

 No one was with me, and I thought 



You might be lonely, too; 

 And so I took my card-case 



And came to visit you. 

 You're fond of company, I know; 



You smile so at the sun, 

 And when the winds go romping past, 



You bow to everyone. 

 How you should ever know them all, 



I'm sure I cannot tell; 

 But when I come again, I hope 



You'll know me just as well. 



The goldenrod belongs to the composite family which is the 

 largest of all botanical families, as it contains one-tenth of all 

 known species of flowering plants. About 8o species of this plant 

 are native to the United States, 42 of which are found in the north- 

 eastern states. Many of these are difficult to identify. 



Sometimes it is tall and straight, a poplar among flowers, a true 

 rod of gold. Again, it is a graceful falling fountain of color, or a 

 long, wavy, showy plume. Graceful or stiff it is a flower to be 

 proud of — a true "nationaP' flower, strictly indigenous. We may 

 understand its worth when we try to imagine what our fields, road- 

 sides and woods would be if bereft of its cheer. Certainly our 

 American autumn would lose one chief element of beauty. 



Goldenrod predicts the coming of the fall and winter. A poem 



by Margaret Deland illustrates this relation to the season : 



O Rod of gold! 



O swaying sceptre of the year 



Now frost and cold 



Show winter near, 



And shivering leaves grow brown and sere. 



The bleak hillside 



And marshy waste of yellow reeds, 



And meadows wide 



Where frosted weeds 



Shake on the damp wind light-winged seeds 



Are decked with thee, — 



The lingering summer's latest grace 



And sovereignty. 



