Nat. Okd. CoMiH>siT.r. 



CONE FLOWER. 



Rudheckia fu hjida. 



fM'Mr HE Cone Flower is one of the handsomest of our raved How ers. 

 ^^if "^ The gorgeous llaniing orange dress, with the deep purple 



Pdisk of ahnost metallie lustre, is one of the ornaments of 

 . ^ all our wild open prairie-like j)lains during the hot months 



of July, August and September. We find the Cone Fh)wer on the 

 sunny spots among the wild herl)age of grassy thickets, associated 

 with the wild Sunilowers, Asters and other plants of the widely dillused 

 Composite Order. 



During the harvest months, when the more delicate s[>ring 

 flowers are ripening their seed, our heat-loving Rudheckias, Chrysan- 

 themums, Sunflowers, Coreopsises, Ox-eyes, and Asters, are lilting 

 their starry heads to greet the light and heat of the sun's ardent 

 rays, adorning the dry wastes, gravelly and sandy hills, and wide 

 grassy plains, with their gay blossoms ; 



" Bright flowers tliat linirer as they fall. 

 Whose last are dearest." 



Many of these compound flowers possess medicinal (pialities. Some, 

 as the thistle, dandelion, wild lettuce, and others, are narcotic, 

 being supplied with an abundance of bitter milky juice. The 



