Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 385 



GOLDEN RAGWORT (Senecio aureus).. As the 

 blue asters have a similar representative, early in the 

 year, in the form of Robin's Plantain, so the yellow 

 asters or sunflowers have theirs, too, in this species. 

 In latter March and early April, Ragwort shows simp- 

 ly a tuft of stemmed, heart-shaped leaves, resembling 

 those of violets. A little later a stem ascends from 

 the perennial root; a slender, tough, angular, twist- 

 ing stem that finally reaches heights of 1 to 3 feet; 

 a single stem, or two or three, may rise from the 

 same root. During May and June, they carry at their 

 summit a loose cluster of bright, orange-yellow flow- 

 ers. These are deeper colored than most of the Fall 

 asters, in fact they are almost the same shade as the 

 rays of the common Cone Flower. Each flower is 

 composed of but 8 to 12 narrow, orange-yellow rays, 

 surrounding a central cluster of tubular florets of a 

 brownish-orange color. 



The stem leaves are chiefly sessile; they are ob- 

 long in shape but deeply cut or pinnatifid, the termin- 

 al section being less so than the basal half. Rag- 

 wort grows most abundantly and most luxuriantly in 

 swamps or moist ground, but is also found in dry 

 places or stony pastures. Its range extends from 

 Newfoundland to Wisconsin and southwards to Va. 

 and Mo. 



ARNICA (Arnica mollis) is a northern plant with 

 large, delicate, pure yellow, daisy-like flowers. Its 

 slightly hairy stem grows from 1 to 2 feet tall. The 

 basal leaves are long-petioled but the stem ones are 

 sessile and opposite, shallow-toothed. At the summit 

 are one to nine flower heads on slender peduncles. 

 About the central disc are 10 to 14 yellow rays, each 

 with three notches in their ends. Found in Canada 

 and the mountains of northern U. S. 



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