Yellow and Orange 



Distribution — Quebec to the Northwest Territory ; southward to 

 Florida and Arizona. 



September, which also brings out lively masses of the swamp 

 sunflower in the low-lying meadows, was appropriately called 

 our golden month by an English traveller who saw for the first 

 time the wonderful yellows in our autumn foliage, the surging 

 seas of golden-rod, the tall, showy sunflowers, ox-eyes, rudbeck- 

 ias, marigolds, and all the other glorious composites in Nature's 

 garden, as in men's, which copy the sun's resplendent disk and 

 rays to brighten with one final dazzling outburst the sombre face 

 of the dying year. 



To the swamp sunflowers honey-bees hasten for both nectar 

 and pollen, velvety bumblebees suck the sweets, leaf-cutter and 

 mason bees, wasps, some butterflies, flies, and beetles visit them 

 daily, for the round disks mature their perfect fertile florets in suc- 

 cession. Since the drooping ray flowers, which are pistillate only, 

 are fertile too, there is no scarcity of seed set, much to the farmer's 

 dismay. Most cows know enough to respect the bitter leaves' 

 desire to be let alone ; but many a pail of milk has been spoiled 

 by a mouthful of Helenimn among the herbage. Whoever cares 

 to learn from experience why this was called the sneezeweed, 

 must take a whilf of snuff made of the dried and powdered leaves. 



The Purple-head Sneezeweed {H. midiflorum), its yellow 

 rays sometimes wanting, occurs in the South and West. 



Tansy ; Bitter-buttons 



{Tanacetum vulgare) Thistle family 



Flower-heads — Small, round, of tubular florets only, packed within 

 a depressed involucre, and borne in flat-topped corymbs. 

 Stem: i>^ to 3 ft. tall, leafy. Leaves : Deeply and pinnately 

 cleft into narrow, toothed divisions; strong scented. 



Preferred Habitat — Roadsides ; commonly escaped from gardens. 



Flowering Season — ^J uly — September. 



Distribution — Nova Scotia, westward to Minnesota, south to Mis- 

 souri and North Carolina. Naturalized from Europe. 



"In the spring time, are made with the leaves hereof newly 

 sprung up, and with eggs, cakes or Tansies which be pleasant in 

 taste and goode for the Stomache," wrote quaint old Gerarde. 

 That these were popular dainties in the seventeenth century we 

 further know through Pepys, who made a " pretty dinner" for 

 some guests, to wit : "A brace of stewed carps, six roasted chick- 

 ens, and a jowl of salmon, hot, for the first course; a tansy, and 

 two neat's tongues, and cheese, the second." Cole's "Art of 



362 



