YELLOW OR YELLOWISH FLOWERS 
Golden-rods 
" And trembles on its arid stalk 
The hoar plume of the golden-rod." — Whittier. 
The golden-rod is a perennial with little flower-heads made 
up of tubular and ray flowers, the former generally perfect, the 
latter pistillate. It will facilitate the recognition of members 
of this genus to divide them into five classes: Class I, flowers 
in small flat-topped clusters; Class II, in which the blossoms 
are in the axils of the leaves; Class III, with leaves on the 
flowering branches; Class IV, with compact plume; Class V, 
with the common plume. The following cut shows the five types. 
T IT JJL i\r 
TYPES OF GOLDEN-ROD 
^^ 
Class I. — Flat-topped Clusters 
Lance-leaved Golden-rod {SoUdago graminiJoUa). 
posite family. July to September. 
Com- 
A golden-rod with maximum height of four feet. The small 
flower-heads, with more than a dozen little rays, are in a flat- 
topped cluster made up of smaller clusters terminating leafy 
branches. The leaves are lance-shaped, long, and narrow, with 
parallel veins and rough edges. Damp ground. Slender Golden- 
rod (5. ienuifolia) is similar, but only reaches a foot and a half, 
with delicate stem and linear leaves. 
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