224 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OP FIELD AND GARDEN. 



about seventy varieties. There is always a prepon- 

 derance of a certain variety in a particular locality — 

 for instance, beside the road 

 running parallel with the river 

 in Campton there is a great 

 quantity of the white-flowered 

 variety and little or no S. 

 rugosa. This last-mentioned 

 flower is commoner in several 

 meadow copses beside the river 

 than any of the varieties which 

 Gray mentions as the very 

 commonest. The golden -rod 

 is certainly our representative 

 American wild flower, l^ot 

 many years ago, when the sub- 

 ject of a national flower be- 

 came interesting, Mr. Louis 

 Prang, of Boston, pubhshed a 

 little tract suggesting the ar- 

 butus and golden-rod as com- 

 petitors for the position of hon- 

 or, and requested an expression 

 of choice from the people. The 

 response was decisive ; and the 

 vote was cast by an overwhelming majority for the 

 golden-rod. 



speciosa. 



