52 BULLETIN 545, U. S, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
to ripen about August 25, but owing to the late date of the flower- 
stalk production only a small seed crop is matured. In 1908 and 
1909 only 9.3 and 12.5 per cent, respectively, of the seed showed fer- 
tility. From these figures and from observations on the range, it does 
not seem likely that a marked increase in the species can be effected 
by range protection and improved methods of handling. 
If palatability and not abundance and distribution were taken into 
account, woolly weed would rank among the most important range 
plants. It is so closely grazed early in the summer that nothing but 
the root remains. The coarse and comparatively deep root system 
protects it from actual killing and under ordinary conservative hand- 
ling of stock it may at least be expected to hold its own. 
CONEFLOWER. 
(Rudbeckia occidentalis.) 
Of the several valuable nongrasslike forage plants, coneflower, 
sometimes called " nigger head," is one whose actual grazing qualities 
are often underrated. It is a conspicuous plant, attaining a height 
of 2 to 5 feet, and having numerous marginally toothed, somewhat 
rough, ovate leaves, those lowest on the stem being petioled, and the 
upper ones sessile. Numerous shoots are sent out from the coarse, 
woody, fibrous perennial root, and the older plants have a bunched 
growth. This plant, as shown in Plate LII, is usually not branched, 
and the dense, rayless, oblong, brown head of flowers, resembling a 
cone, is borne at the apex of the stem. 
The most common and favorable habitats of coneflower are the 
somewhat shaded banks, mountain swales, and hillsides where the 
soil is moist but not saturated. One of its most common associates 
is false hellebore, whose moisture requirements are almost identical. 
Coneflower is occasionally met with on open, well-drained glades, 
but never in abundance. In such habitats, in the characteristic 
basaltic clay loam soil of the region, wilting of all leaves did not take 
place until the soil moisture was reduced, on the average, to 14 per 
cent. In the richer soils, those which are heavily impregnated with 
organic matter, pronounced and long periods of wilting, usually 
followed by death of the plant, were recorded when the soil con- 
tained from 16 to 18.5 per cent water content. 
Early in the season the " button" or flower head begins to develop 
and by August 15 has virtually attained full growth. The seeds, 
however, do not begin to ripen until about the last week in August 
the ripening period extending well into September, and the seeds 
remaining in the head until late in the autumn. The germinative 
strength of the seed crop in the three years of test was 16, 24.5, and 
11, respectively. Even in the most favorable situations the seed- 
lings stand is rather sparse, but reproduction from roots is abundant. 
