HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



leaves, which are sessile above, on narrow and short petioles 

 below. Heads in small corymbs. Whole plant covered with 

 soft, silky, weak, woolly hairs when young, becoming smoother 

 with age. Heads of flowers in flattish clusters, on glandular 

 peduncles. August and September. 



These are handsome flowers when in bloom, ragged-ap- 

 pearing when the pappus is loosely dropping out; adorning 

 many sterile spots from Massachusetts and Long Island 

 southward to Pennsylvania not far from the coast. (See il- 

 lustration, p. 213.) 



Golden-rods 



Golden-rods need no general description. They are as well 

 known, common, and admired as daisies. As the blue he- 

 patica is the sign of coming spring, so the golden-rod pre- 

 dicts the fall. During the early summer, green stems arising 

 from the perennial roots spring up everywhere. No ground 

 is so hard and dry as to forbid them. Toward the last of 

 July and first of August, flecks of yellow appear on the tips 

 of the branches. These spread downward, till, by Septem- 

 ber, the fields are aflame. This plant is one of bright, gener- 

 ous bloom. Sometimes it is tall and straight — a poplar 

 among flowers, a rod of gold. Again it is a graceful, falling 

 fountain of color, or a long, wavy, showy, pampas-like plume. 

 Graceful or stiff, it is a flower to be proud of — a truly national 

 flower, strictly indigenous. We may understand its worth 

 when we try to imagine what our fields, roadsides, and 

 woods would be if bereft of golden-rods. Certainly our 

 American autumn would lose one chief element of beauty. 



They belong to the genus Soltdago, and few of the species 

 have separate common names. The leaves are very variable, 

 and the manner of stem growth must be noticed for the identi- 

 fication of species. All are yellow except 5. bicolor, a white 

 species found on the edges of dry w T oods. Our roadsides are 

 lined with them. They are communistic or found singly. 

 They are weeds, of course, but not troublesome like wild 

 carrot and daisy. I never heard a farmer exclaim against the 

 golden-rod, while I have seen his wife's vases and fireplaces 

 filled with its masses of yellow bloom. 



"'A worthless plant, a flaunting weed! 

 Abundant splendors are too cheap.' 

 Neighbor, not so! unless, indeed, 



You would from heaven the sunsets sweep, 



