PLANTS GROWING IN DRY SOIL. 293 



Black-eyed Susan, or Susie, as her playmates call her, is a 

 beautiful wild country girl with a striking brunette face, and a 

 gown of yellow and black, which fairly makes the meadows 

 dance with life and gaiety. Perhaps she lacks that wealth of 

 charm which cultivation gives, and is rather careless in choos- 

 ing her companions. No doubt she is governed entirely by her 

 love of fun. Her manner of growth is certainly ungraceful and 

 her leaves and stem are rough and uncouth. 



She is perfectly at home in the east, although she first came 

 to us hidden in clover seeds from the west ; where she is called 

 by the unpoetical name of "nigger-head." 



The southern rudbeckia (Plate CLI) is a more gorgeous 

 flower, the cone of disk-flowers being much higher and the 

 leaves broader than those of the above species. 



R.Brittonii, Eritton's cone-flower, has flower-heads that are 

 from two to three inches broad. Its rays are two-lobed and 

 about twelve in number. They are tipped with purple. The 

 stem leaves are nearly oval and often occur with a lateral lobe. 

 In the mountains of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Tennessee and 

 in the woods it blooms abundantly from May until July. 



The plant is stout and vigourous and it bears, as will be 

 noticed, the name of Dr. Britton, who has expended so much 

 time and affection upon the floral world. 



GOLDEN=ROD. DYER'S WEED. 



Solidago nemoralis. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Composite. Yellow. Scentless. New England southward August. 



and westward. 



Perhaps this is the most common of all the golden-rods that 

 abound in dry fields. The flowers grow in a dense plume, or 

 compound panicle, along the upper side of the stem ; and the 

 few tapering leaves are of a dull greyish green. It seldom 

 grows over two feet high. The simple stem has a cottony look. 



S. Canadensis, Canada golden-rod, is a tall species with spread- 



