COMPOSITAE 



COMPOSITE FAMILY 



PRAIRIE TICKSEED. STIFF TICKSEED 



Coreopsis palmata Nutt. 



The Prairie or Stiff Tickseed is a typical prairie perennial, 

 abundant on dry areas, along railroads and in other open places 

 from Indiana to Louisiana, Manitoba, Minnesota, Nebraska and 

 Texas. It blooms in June and July. 



The stem, which is rigid, smooth, 

 but little branched and very leafy, 

 grows I -3 feet high. The leaves are 

 very characteristic and help to identify 

 the plant. All are 2-3 inches long, 

 sessile, thick and rigid; all but the 

 uppermost are broadly wedge shaped 

 and palmately 3-lobed to about the 

 middle. These lobes are linear-oblong, 

 blunt and entire or with 1-3 lateral 

 rough-margined lobes. 



The heads are few, sometimes soli- 

 tary, are short peduncled and 1-2 

 inches broad. The hemispherical in- 

 volucre is composed of 2 distinct series 

 of bracts, the outer ones being narrower 

 and a little shorter than the inner. 

 The receptacle, chaffy and nearly flat, 

 bears 6-10 bright yellow, oblong or 

 obovate ray flowers mostly 3-toothed, and the numerous disk 

 flowers which are also yellow. The akenes, produced in all plants 

 of this genus by the disk flowers, are flat, oblong, narrowly 

 winged and slightly curved, and the pappus consists of 2 short 

 teeth or may be absent. 



The Tall Tickseed, Coreopsis tripteris L., grows in moist woods 

 and thickets and blooms from July to October. Its smooth stem is 

 4-8 feet high and much branched near the top. The leaves are 

 petioled, smooth or nearly so, and the lower ones are divided into 3-5 

 lanceolate, entire rough-margined segments, which are 2-5 inches 

 long and pinnately veined. The upper leaves are lanceolate and en- 

 tire. The outer bracts of the involucre are much narrower and some- 

 what shorter than the inner. The 6-10 ray flowers are yellow and not 

 toothed, and the disk flowers are also yellow. The akenes are oblong 

 to obovate and narrowly winged, but there is no pappus. 



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