ACCORDING TO SEASON 



being without the ray-flowers which are essential 

 Iron-weed to an aster. In the iron- weed the involucre of 

 little leaf-like scales which always surrounds the 

 flower-head of a composite, and which is com- 

 monly considered a calyx by the unbotanical, is 

 usually of a purplish tint, each little scale being 

 tipped with a tiny cusp or point. Its alternate 

 leaves are long and narrow, and its tough stem is 

 responsible for its common name. Its scientific 

 title, Vernonia, was bestowed in honor of an Eng- 

 lish botanist who travelled in this country many 

 years ago. 



In the rich woods the flat-topped flower-clus- 

 ters and broad, pointed leaves of the white 

 In woods snakeroot, a near relative of the boneset, are 

 thickets noticeable. This is a brighter-looking, more or- 

 namental plant than its celebrated kinsman. 

 Along the streams and in the thickets the sun- 

 flowers lift their yellow heads far above our own, 

 while the wet ditches are gilded with the bright 

 rays of the bur-marigold. 



Somewhat southward the large heads of the so- 

 Soutbward called golden aster (which is not an aster at all) 

 star the dry fields and road sides. In moist, 

 shaded spots we find the ephemeral day-flower, 

 or Commelina, with its two sky-blue petals quaintly 

 commemorating the two Commelyns (distin- 

 guished Dutch botanists), while the odd petal, 



158 



«1 ft COLLEGE LIBRARY, 



