HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



gined petiole. Upper leaves small, sessile, extending into the 

 panicle of flowers. Plant covered with a soft, powdery bloom. 

 Flowers crowded into a dense, terminal spike or thyrsus. August 

 to October. 



Dry or poor soil from Maine to Florida and Mississippi near 

 the coast. 



S. stricta. — Stem, smooth, tall, wand-like, 2 to 8 feet high, not 

 branched, covered with very small, linear, thick, appressed (laid 

 flat against the stem) leaves. Flowers, in a slender spike or 

 raceme. Leaves at base, on long petioles, broad at apex, taper- 

 ing. August to October. 



Pine barrens of New Jersey and southward. It is impos- 

 sible to mistake this species, which has a slender, unbranched, 

 tall, graceful appearance. It might be called willow-leaf 

 golden-rod. 



S. fistulbsa. — In the same pine barrens we may find the fistnlosa, 

 tall, 3 to 7 feet, but rough, hairy, stout, and simple below, often 

 branched above. Leaves, all sessile, numerous, larger below, 

 quite small above, rough on midrib beneath and along the mar- 

 gins. Heads of bright- yellow flowers in a dense, pyramid-shaped, 

 recurved panicle. Flowers with few and short rays. August to 

 October. 



Pine barrens, sandy soil, New Jersey to Virginia and 

 southward. 



Gray or Field Golden-rod 



S. nemorklis. — A common species covering barren fields, and 

 one of the least pretty. It is low, from 6 inches to 2 feet high. 

 Stem, simple, rough, covered with a gray down which is also 

 found on the leaves. Flowers, in a heavy, i-sided compound 

 panicle. Leaves, long-petioled below, crenately toothed; the 

 upper much smaller. July to November. 



Dry soil in open fields or along roadsides, in waste places. 

 Yellow Weed 



S. canadensis* — A common species, coarse, rather tall, limit 6 

 feet, with spreading, recurving, 1 -sided racemes of flowers, mak- 

 ing a large, showy panicle. Leaves, 3-ribbed, lance-shaped, rough- 

 ish, toothed, sessile above, petioled below, thin. Heads small, 

 subtended by pale, almost straw-color bracts. August to No- 

 vember. 



Dry soil, in open places. 



