COMPOSITE FAMILY 



Disk and ray-florets. — Yellow, except in Solidago bicolor, whose rays 

 are cream. 

 Involucre. — Bracts appressed, destitute of herbaceous tips. 

 Receptacle. — Small, not chaffy. 

 Pappus. — Simple, of equal capillary bristles. 

 Akenes. — Many-ribbed, nearly terete. 



The flowers of the Golden-rods are in small radiate heads, each 

 of which is surrounded by an involucre made up of a few more 

 or less appressed scales. The heads are clustered in many ways, 

 sometimes in the axils of the leaves, sometimes they make a panicle 

 6i little racemes, sometimes a flat, irregular corymb. 



The receptacle bearing the flowers is small, and has no chaff. 

 The pappus is simple, and composed of capillary heads or bristles. 

 The ray-florets are small and pistillate. 



Over sixty species of Golden-rods are described in the seventh 

 edition of Gray's "Manual of Botany," and these hybridize so 

 freely that they are often difficult to identify. 



Some species, like Solidago canadensis, are continental in. distri- 

 bution, others appear in a limited area. The following are the 

 familiar species most easily recognized in northern Ohio; they are 

 the ones that a gardener of that region would select to emphasize 

 color effects, relieve dark places, and build up wild tangles: 



Solidago juncea, on the shore of Lake Erie, begins to bloom in 

 June; its habitat extends from New Brunswick to Saskatchewan 

 and southward to North Carolina and Missouri. 



Solidago nenorhlis is the low-growing species in dry, open fields, 

 and may be recognized by the peculiarity of its recurved racemes, 

 all bending in the same direction over an area of several square 

 rods of plants. It begins to bloom in July. 



Solidago canadensis is the most beautiful species of the genus; 

 tall, bearing a broadly pyramidal panicle of recurved racemes; it 

 comes into full bloom in September. 



Solidago ohioinsis is very abundant in northern Ohio. Its 

 flower-heads are borne in a flat, compound corymb which termi- 

 nates the simple stem. There is no suggestion of a raceme about 

 the inflorescence. Its best bloom is in September. 



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