8 Coreopsis vevticillata. 



The genus Coreopsis affords some of the most elegant of our sum- 

 mer and autumnal flowers — several species have already been figured 

 in this work. The present one is confined exclusively to states 

 southern of Pennsylvania. Though I have met with it near the bor- 

 ders of this state, I have never seen it growing wild within its limits ; 

 yet the Alleghany mountains contain many plants with which this 

 grows in company where 1 have seen it, and it is more than pro- 

 bable that it grows in some of its arid woods. Under cultivation, 

 like all the species of this genus, it improves much in size and luxu- 

 riance ; and notwithstanding its evident predilection for dry sunny 

 places, it is found to thrive in damp shady borders of rich soil, in gar- 

 dens into which it has been introduced. Its similarity with another 

 species, the tenuifolia, has caused some botanists to confound them un- 

 der the idea of their identity. Besides that the leaves of the tenuifolia 

 are much more delicate, long, and less rigid than those of the present 

 plant — a slight glance at the ray petals of the former will suffice to 

 show their discrepancy with those of the verticillata. Pursh by a sin- 

 gular oversight, has given precisely the same specific character to 

 both these species, quoting Willdenow for both, referring to different 

 pages of his work. The present plant may be recommended as a 

 hardy perennial, increasing rapidly by sowing its own seed, in the open 

 borders of gardens, and is well worth cultivation to the exclusion of 

 the numerous less showy and more troublesome exotics so often nur- 

 tured there. 



The table represents a flowering portion of the plant as large as 

 nature. 



