COMPOSITE FAMILY. 195 



32. INULA, ELECAMPANE. (Ancient Latin name.) Fl. summer, y. 

 I. Hel^nium, Commok Elecampane. In old gardens and nat. from 



Eu. by roadsides ; a stout herb, with stems 3° - 5^ high from a thick mucilagi- 

 nous root (used in medicine), large entire leaves woolly beneath, those from the 

 root ovate and petioled, the others partly clasping ; heads large, but the rays 

 very narrow. 



33. CHRTSOPSIS, GOLDEN ASTER. (Name fi-om two Greek words 

 meaning golden in appearance, from the yellow flowers.) Low herbs, wild 

 chiefly b. & W., in dry and barren or sandy soil ; fl. summer and autumn. 

 C. graminif61ia, from Delaware S. : silvery-silky, with long lance-linear 



and grass-like shining nerved leaves, and single or few heads, y. 



C. falcata, on the coast, from Cape Cod to New Jersey : only 4' - 10' high, 

 woolly, clothed to the top with short and linear 3-nerved rigid leaves, which are 

 often .curved or scythe-shaped (whence the specific name) ; heads small, 

 corymbed. % 



C. goss^pina, from Virginia S. : white-cottony all over (whence the name), 

 with oblong obtuse rarely toothed leaves, and few pretty large heads. % 



C. Marikna, the commonest species, from Long Island S. : silky with long 

 and weak hairs, or smoothish when old, with oblong leaves, and a few corymbed 

 heads on glandular peduncles, y. 



C. Vill6sa, from Wisconsin S. & W. : coarsely hairy and somewhat hoary, 

 leafy to the top, with corymbed branches beaiing single heads on short pedun- 

 cles, and narrow-oblong leaves, y. 



34. SOLIDAGO, GOLDEN-ROD. (Old name, from Latin word to wake 

 whole, trora supposed healing qualities. ) There are very many species, flow- 

 ering through late summer and autumn. See Manual and Chapman's S. 

 Elora. The following are a few of the very commonest, y 



' § 1. Heads clustered in the axils of the feath&-veined leaves. 



S, bicolor. Pale and downy or hairy, with oblong or lance-oblong scarcely 

 toothed leaves, and small heads with cream-colored or nearly white ray-flowers ! 



S. latifblia, of shaded banks N. : smooth, with broadly ovate pointed and 

 sharply serrate thin leaves, and bright yellow ray-flowers. 



S. c8Bsia is like the last, but with more brauched and glaucous stems, and 

 lanceolate or lance-oblong sessile leaves. 



§ 2. Heads in racemes forming a terminal panicle. 

 * Leaves feather-veined, not 3-ribbed. 



S. argtlta. Smooth, with the lowest and root-leaves oblong or lance-oval 

 pointed and sharply toothed, the upper narrower and entire ; the slender one- 

 sided naked racemes widely spreading or drooping. 



S. altissima, badly named, as it is mostly only 2° - 4° high, one of the 

 earliest>-flowering Golden-rods, with rough-hairy stem, small lance-ovate or 

 oblong and serrate very veiny leaves, and one-sided recurving racemes of small 

 heads of bright-yellow flowers. 



• * Leaves feather-veined and indistincSy triple-ribbed, entire or nearly so, grayish. 



S. nemorUis, in dry open ground, flowering soon after midsummer, only 

 10 _ go iiig),^ pale with very minute down ; the leaves spatulate-oblong or oblan- 

 ceolate ; one-sided dense racemes numerous and at length recurving, and flowers 

 bright golden-yellow. 



» • » Leaves plainly either 3-ribbed or triple-ribbed : racemes one-sided, crowded, 

 spreading or recurving and forming an ample panicle. 



S. Canadensis, has rough-hairy stems, lanceolate and usually serrate 

 pointed leaves rather downy beneath but rough above, and small heads with 

 short rays. 



S. gigantfea is smooth or smoothish, especially the stem, and witli larger 

 heads and rays than the preceding. 



