GOLDEN-RODS AND ASTERS. 
A S we take our walks and drives in the late summer 
and early autumn we find the yellow of the 
golden-rod, the purple, white and violet of the aster, 
giving beauty and brightness to roadsides, fields and 
woods. Many a hill and dale present pictures far be¬ 
yond the most finished works of art. 
Golden-rod hill, where I find eight or nine species of 
solidagos, and Aster dale, where the starry flowers de¬ 
light to dwell, are among the pleasant places of the 
land. And does it not add to the enjoyment of the 
flowers to be able to call each by its true name ? As 
Emerson says of the shells : “ How hungry I found my¬ 
self the other day at Agassiz’s Museum for their 
names ! ” And don’t you always feel that you are some¬ 
what acquainted with a plant if you can call it by name ? 
I know of no more entertaining vacation work than to 
see how many different golden-rods and asters you can 
find. It will, of course, depend upon the locality; but 
you will be able almost anywhere to find from twelve to 
sixteen species of each. 
I found last year fourteen solidagos that I felt quite 
sure were correctly named and sixteen asters. I had be¬ 
fore found twelve solidagos—possibly thirteen; but you 
may be sure I was pleased when I could add two more 
that there was no doubt about. 
“ How did I find them ? ” I had them in my mind, 
for I was very desirous to seek out all that grew within 
the limits of my botanical trips. And experience has 
proved to me the truth of what John Burroughs says 
about the walking fern, “ No one ever yet found the 
walking fern who did not have the walking fern in his 
mind.” Literally translated—You need to know what 
you want to find, and you must also be persistent in your 
seeking; no lukewarm enthusiasm will accomplish the 
result. 
I have to-day found the smooth winterberry, Ilex 
laevigata, not very common, because a day or two ago 
I learned just how it differed from Ilex verticillata , the 
more common black alder or winterberry. I knew that 
the flower stems were longer, but supposed that I must 
examine it closely to perceive the difference; but when I 
was told that the pedicel was half an inch long, I was 
ready to recognize the shrub at sight, and lo! and be¬ 
hold ! there it was waiting, to make my acquaintance. 
The earlier golden-rods are Solidago canadensis and 
Solldago arguta ; according to the revised nomenclature, 
juncea. They appear at about the same time, and are so 
distinct you will have no trouble in placing and remem¬ 
bering them. 
It is fortunate for all learners that the flowers do not 
all appear at once, for they would be entirely bewildered, 
as I was on being told the names of the streets in a 
Southern city. We landed from the steamer in the even¬ 
ing, and in the morning as we rode through the city, my 
friend, who was very familiar with the names, thought he 
was doing me great service by pouring into my ears an 
avalanche of words, quaint, strange and unfamiliar— 
Tchoupitoulas, Melpomene, Euterpe, Felicity Road, Pry- 
tania, &c., &c. If one had ever heard the names of the 
Muses with one syllable eliminated and the accent any¬ 
where but in the right place, the unfamiliarity of the 
words would have been very apparent. 
Finally, I ventured to say, “You are very kind, but if 
you would give me two or three names at a time, I might 
have some chance of remembering them.” 
I often think of this when quantities of information are 
hurled at people with no time given them to fix even one 
fact in their minds. 
Is it not better to know one thing thoroughly than a 
dozen superficially? And as Confucius says: “To know 
that we know what we know, and that we do not know 
what we do not know, that is true knowledge.” 
Now, with regard to the golden-rods and asters, do not 
try to learn all the names at once, and, fortunately, as I 
have before said, Nature does not show them all to you 
at the same time. 
You will find Solidago canadensis and Solidago juncea 
(remember that the name in Gray’s Manual will be 
arguta) in the fields and by the roadsides as early as 
the latter part of July. The stems of 5 . canadensis are 
rough-hairy, the leaves lanceolate and pointed, while the 
stems of 5 . juncea are smooth and the leaves much 
broader and very smooth; the panicle of N. canadensis 
being erect, that of N. arguta usually becoming one¬ 
sided. If you are in doubt as to the species study care¬ 
fully Gray's Manual or some other good botany, or, bet¬ 
ter still, consult if you can the revision of solidagos and 
asters which you will find in Vol. I., Part 2, of the Synop¬ 
tical Flora of North America, by Professor Gray, pub¬ 
lished last summer. Both names and descriptions have 
been changed to some extent, corrections having been 
made where names, &c., had been found upon further 
research to be erroneous. 
I can do little more in a paper like this than give a list 
of the golden-rods and asters in the order in which I 
found them last summer, only mentioning when I can 
some salient point. 
Aster corymbosus appeared about the same time as the 
two earlier golden-rods. I could always tell it by the 
slender zigzag stem and the lower heart-shaped leaves 
with naked petioles, and these points always made me 
able to distinguish it from A. macrophyllus, which 
somewhat resembles it, but appears later. The stem of 
A. macrophyllus is stout, leaves thickish, and some of 
them with margined petioles. Both of these asters are 
showy and beautiful and are found in moist woods. 
Next I find on my list Solidago lanceolata. S. tenui- 
folia appears about the same time and is in the same de¬ 
scriptive section, but was not within my reach. The heads 
of these are so different from the other golden-rods it is 
very easy to distinguish them—small, sessile and crowded 
into litile clusters. S. lanceolata has narrow ldaves, 
