HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



mer in small heads above, making short spikes, the latter axillary 

 below. Corolla, attending the single pistil, long, thread - like. 

 Pistillate heads covered with stout, hooked spines, which, in 

 fruit, make a rough, pointed, beaked, bristly bur. Stem i to 3 

 feet high, thickly covered with lobed or toothed, alternate leaves 

 and stout branches. There are spines at the base of the leaves, 

 slender, of a yellow color, 3-parted. August to November. 



An imported weed too well known. In waste places, 

 Maine to Florida west to Illinois. 



Hedgehog Burweed 



X. echinktum. — This is a plant of similar growth and habit, 

 found in waste places near the coast. The bur is large, strongly 

 2-beaked at the top, covered with rigid, coarse hairs and bristles. 

 The stem is often spotted with brown. Leaves, coarse and thick. 



Tetragonotheca heliantholdes. — Family, Composite. Color, pale 

 yellow. Leaves, opposite, sessile, their bases sometimes meeting 

 and joining around the stem, coarsely toothed. Flowers, in large 

 heads, on peduncles terminating the simple flower-stem. Rays 

 present, 6 to 9, 1 inch long. Underneath the flower-heads, 4 

 broad, involucral bracts unite and make a 4-angled cup around 

 the flower. A second row within is composed of small, chaffy 

 scales. May and June. 



Virginia, southward. 



Purple Cone-flower. Black-eyed Susan 



Rudbeckia hirta. — Family, Composite. Color of rays yellow, 

 with a chocolate-brown, cone-shaped disk. Whole plant rough, 

 hairy. Leaves, mostly entire, the upper lance-shaped, sessile; the 

 lower broader, with petioles. In dry ground, fields, and way- 

 sides. June to September. 



This pretty weed has been brought to the East in clover- 

 seed from Western fields. It grows 1 to 2 feet high, and 

 colors whole fields with bright yellow, possessing strong roots 

 and an aggressive nature, so that, once established, it is 

 difficult to eradicate. New Jersey farmers regard the cone- 

 flowers with disapproval, but city boarders love them, es- 

 pecially mixed with white daisies, and fill large jardinieres 

 with the golden blooms. (See illustration, p. 225.) 



Cone-flower. Thimble Weed 

 R. taciniata. — Color of both rays and disk, yellow. Disk 

 strongly columnar. Leaves, alternate, the lowest pinnate, the 



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