COMPOSITE FAMILY 



THE LEAVES: alternate; numerous; lanceolate or oblong or 

 spatulate; two inches to seven inches long; thick; acute 

 or acutish at the apex; stemless or the lower ones petioled; 

 sparingly serrate with low teeth, or entire. 



THE FLOWER HEADS: commonly few or solitary; two 

 inches broad; rays ten to twenty; bracts of the involucre 

 beset with short, stiff hairs. 



THE FRUIT: achenes; pappus lacking. 



A clump of deep but bright yellow in a hay-field, suggests 

 the Black-eyed Susan, a handsome plant, evidently of the 

 Composite Family, that has large showy rays and "madder 

 purple'' or brown discs, solid and slightly cone-shaped. 

 The stem is very hairy, the hairs rough and bristly, and 

 the leaves dull olive green, lance-shaped, and practically 

 toothless. 



COMPOSITE COMPOSITE FAMILY 



Helianthus divaricatus, L. 



Yellow Wild Sunflower, 



Rough Sunflower, 

 July-September Woodland Sunflower. 



Helianthus: Greek, denoting a sunflower. 

 Divaricatus: Latin, denoting widely divergent. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: thickets. 



THE PLANT: erect, two feet to seven feet high, branched; 

 the stem without hairs throughout or with short hairs at 

 the top, slender. 



THE LEAVES: usually all opposite, wide-spreading or di- 

 vergent (divaricate); lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate; three 

 inches to eight inches long, acuminate at the apex; sessile 

 or nearly so, with a suddenly-cut base; dentate or denticu- 

 late; three prominent veins. 



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