366 OHIO EXPERIMENT STATION: BULLETIN 175. 



339 Gum=plant (P) Grindelia squarrosa (Pursh) Dunal. This gum-plant 

 is a native of the plains and has recently become introduced eastward. It has 

 been locally introduced in alfalfa and other seeds from the west, The plant 

 is very leafy, 1 to 2 feet high, with yellow rays and sticky or glutinous 

 bracts about the base of the heads. Seeds, light-colored, smooth, four or more 

 angled, often ribbed and curved, about 1-10 inch long with truncate (flat) 

 summit, occurring in alfalfa seed. 



340 Golden Aster (P) Chrysopsis Mariana (L.) Nutt. Is a silky-hairy 

 low plant, about a foot high, with oblong leaves and flat-topped clusters of 

 flowers with bright yellow rays and disks. It is frequent in dry or sterile 

 grass lands in southeastern Ohio. A second species also occurs. 



341 Tall Goldenrod (P) Solidago Canadensis L. While there are many 

 species of goldenrod (Solidago) more or less abundant along streams and the 

 borders of woods, there seem to be two species only, requiring mention here as 

 weeds; these are the tall goldenrod and the next or low goldenrod. 



This one is tall and stout, three to rive feet high, with rough, hairy stem, an 

 abundance of lance-shaped, pointed, saw-toothed leaves and small heads of yel- 

 low flowers. The stem is very leafy, the leaves commonly five to six inches long. 

 The plant comes frequently on wood borders and in fence-rows where, though 

 pretty, it calls for destruction. Best killed out by cultivation or by digging. 



342 Low Goldenrod (P) Solidago nemoralis Ait. It is by far the com- 

 monest goldenrod of sterile fields and dry roadsides. It grows from six inches 

 to two feet high, having a grayish, hoary down and leaves wider toward the 

 point, tapering toward the stem. The most characteristic part is the dense, 

 one-sided cluster of bright yellow heads, beginning to open early in August. 

 Like cinquefoil, the low goldenrod indicates a sterile soil, which calls for 

 fertilizing and general improvement. The goldenrods are attacked by similar 

 rusts and by the same mildews as those found upon ironweeds. 



343 Heart=leaved Aster (P) Aster cor difolius L. Is a handsome aster, 

 with broad, heart-shaped leaves, growing freely in fields and by roadsides, 

 often accompanied by two or three other species of similar habits. It has a 

 much branched stem, pale blue or nearly white rays, and pink to yellow disk 

 flowers. Where too aggressive these asters may be killed out by cultivation, but 

 they usually indicate a need of greater fertility. 



344 Steelweed, Hairy Aster (P) Aster ericoides pilosus (Willd.) Porter. 

 Within a few years a great deal of complaint of 



his weed has reached us from the region bordering 

 tn the Ohio river, and in some localities, notably 

 in Brown county, the idea has been advanced that 

 ohe weed was brought in by the great flood of 1884. 

 Examination, however, showed that the weed 

 prevails throughout southeastern Ohio and has 

 done so since the settlement by the whites. Mr. 

 Nelson Cox, of Ensee, Lawrence county, informed 

 me in 1894-5 that to his knowledge fields in his 

 vicinity were badly infested with this weed about 

 thirty years ago (1875-7). 



Southern Ohio seems most congenial for this 

 plant, although it is found as far north as Lake 

 Erie. The weed is native, undoubtedly, over 

 large portions of the state. It is a hairy, moderate 

 sized plant, 1 to 3 feet high, with tapering leaves 

 as shown in the cut (Fig. 67), short, white rays Fie 67. Steelweed. 



and purplish disk flowers. The favorite habitat of this weed is in dry, some- 

 what sandy land, where it proves decidedly aggressive. The dense, wood.y 



