RIVER BANKS— BROOKS— RUNNING STREAMS 13 



This tall growth resembles the smaller, well-known weed of 

 the dooryard. It reaches the height of 12 feet, but is usually 

 about 6. The stem is coarse and hairy. Flowers in green- 

 ish panicles, looking like, as a child once said, flower cande- 

 labra. 



14. Ten-rayed Sunflower 



Helianthus decapetatus. — Family, Composite. Color, rays 

 and disk, yellow. Leaves, thin, ovate, pointed at apex, broader 

 at base, with margined petioles, coarsely toothed. Height, 2 

 to 5 feet. Number of rays, about 10. Blossom, not large. 

 The green involucral scales project beyond the flower rays. 

 Smooth-stemmed, branching. 



Most of the sunflowers are perennials. The tall, garden sun- 

 flower,/^, annuus, is an exception. It is an annual, cultivated ex- 

 tensively, not only for the sake of its broad, bright flowers, but 

 also for its seed, which is fed to chickens, parrots, and tame squir- 

 rels, New and pretty varieties of the cultivated sunflower are 

 constantly being introduced, from the great "Oscar Wilde" to 

 small, button-like blossoms. 



Of the \^ild sunflowers, which bring a late brightness into the 

 copses and fields, there are 22 species given by Gray. 



15. Autumn Sneezeweed 



Helenium autumna/e. — Family, Composite. Color, yellow. 

 Leaves, toothed, oblong to lance-shaped, alternate, following 

 downward on the stem below insertion. Time, August to Sep- 

 tember. 



Both ray and disk flowers present the rays from 3 to 5 cleft. 

 The plant is erect, i to 6 feet, and in general appearance like a 

 sunflower, but the blossom is smaller, being about half an inch 

 across. Branches and broad stem are angled and smooth. Heads 

 of flowers single, or a few in corymb-like clusters. The ray-flow- 

 ers bear pistils. 



