^lo THE THISTLE FAMILY. 



individual, we find in its leaves, emitting their strong anise scent, an unfail- 

 ing mark of its identity. And it is not only when they are bruised that this 

 odour becomes apparent ; a bunch of the stems in a room will soon laden 

 the air heavily. To many this is not at all agreeable. It is one of the earli- 

 est of the family to send up green stems in the late summer, and these are 

 often objects of interest, for the inflorescence of the golden-rods unfolds in 

 many different ways. Some wave fleecy, feathery tops ; others are almost 

 without shape or they may be as compact and stiff as rods. But no one 

 could mistake a golden-rod ; the question is simply, though often one diffi- 

 cult to answer, just what species has come up before us. 



S. nemoralis, dyer's w-eed, or grey golden-rod, blooms abundantly 

 through old, dry fields, and is one of the very common ones of the order. 

 Its flower-heads, we notice, are grouped in a pyramidal, recurved and usually 

 one-sided panicle appearing like a plume, and the rays are quite showy. 

 Over the plant there is an ashy, greyish sheen cast by its minutely fine and 

 rough pubescence. The lower leaves are oblanceolate, coarsely serrate and 

 grow in a tuft about the base. 



S. Canadmsis, yellow weed, or Canada golden-rod, although bearing very 

 small flower-heads, is an extremely showy plant, as it is compactly 

 grouped in great numbers on the long and recurved branches of the panicle. 

 Its leaves, which are lanceolate, triple-nerved and sharply serrate, are very 

 rough especially on their upper surfaces, and are paler underneath. While 

 occurring generally through the northeast and northwest territory, the plant 

 also extends southward to Florida. 



WESTERN DAISY. 



Bell is integrifblia. 



Fiower-keads: terminal ; solitary with both ray and disk flowers enclosed in an 

 involucre of lanceolate, thin and pointed bracts. Ray-Jiowers : pistillate; imbricated 

 in two rows. Disk-flowers: bright yellow, oblong-linear, numerous. Leaves: 

 those from the base tufted, spatulate ; those of the stem, sessile; oblanceolate or 

 linear, blunt or pointed at the apex and covered with fine hairs ; thin. An annual, 

 much branched herb, six to fifteen inches high, with sparingly hairy or smooth stem. 



As dainty and exquisite as some of the transient bloom of earliest spring 

 >^ is this fair daisy, which reminds us somewhat of its European relative gene- 

 rally seen in cultivation. Through its southern range it grows in moist soil 

 and has oblong-linear rays, blue or purple and very pretty. 



