184 STARLIGHT AND SUNSHINE. 
gold, without alloy, having long ago sentenced our only two 
black sheep to Europe in exile. 
“We belong to a noble order known as the Composzte, which 
means a unit composed of many, each of my golden stars being 
composed of many flowers; and our immediate family are called 
Solidago by your prophets, which name, as one of them affirms, is 
‘derived from solidus and ago, to draw together, to join, to make 
whole.’ 
“Am I not indeed Columbia’s true emblem? My being is a 
harmonious assemblage of individuals with hearts that beat as 
one; and since those far ages when ‘America’ received her primal 
christening £ pluribus unum has been my motto.” 
If the golden-rod has not been nominated by acclamation, it 
is because its claims have not been appreciated. In its selection 
no sectional jealousy will be aroused. It will certainly be a sur- 
prise to most people to know that the genus is practically con- 
fined to the American continent—a rare botanical phenomenon 
—and that of the nearly one hundred American species, sevemty- 
eight are found in the United States. The two sole European 
species, unlike hundreds of other floral immigrants, never have 
been seen here, much less naturalized. 
Considered in the abstract, its conspicuous beauty alone is a 
sufficient champion; its recommendations of color, grace, stately 
ornamental symmetry being self-evident, lending itself to all man- 
ner of art treatment or conventional decoration. Moreover, if we 
are to be consistent in our choice; if we are to regard the inher- 
ent attributes of the contending flora, it is the composzte flower 
that must typify the zzzoz. And such a flower should be a true 
child of the sod. Among all the native composzte, the only two 
genera between which there is the slightest ground for rivalry are 
the golden-rods, with seventy-eight species, and the asters, with one 
hundred and twenty-four. But who would hesitate a moment as 
between the former and the royal group that wears the “purple?” 
No, I repeat, the question is not * What shall be our national 
flower?” The Solidago zs our national flower and ever will be, 
\ even though it continue to cry in the wilderness. 
