"Twenty Hill Hollow 



September are the season of plant rest, fol- 

 lowed, in October, by a most extraordinary out- 

 gush of plant-life, at the very driest time of the 

 whole year. A small, unobtrusive plant, Hemi- 

 zonia virgata, from six inches to three feet in 

 height, with pale, glandular leaves, suddenly 

 bursts into bloom, in patches miles in extent, 

 like a resurrection of the gold of April. I have 

 counted upward of three thousand heads upon 

 one plant. Both leaves and pedicles are so 

 small as to be nearly invisible among so vast 

 a number of daisy golden-heads that seem to 

 keep their places unsupported, like stars in the 

 sky. The heads are about five eighths of an 

 inch in diameter; rays and disk-flowers, yellow; 

 stamens, purple. The rays have a rich, furred 

 appearance, like the petals of garden pansies. 

 The prevailing summer wind makes all the 

 heads turn to the southeast. The waxy secre- 

 tion of its leaves and involucres has suggested 

 its grim name of "tarweed," by which it is 

 generally known. In our estimation, it is the 

 most delightful member of the whole Compos- 

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