[Sidenote: =Sunflower=
_Heliánthus fasciculàris_
=Yellow
Spring
Nev., Ariz., etc.=]
A handsome kind, forming a clump from two to four feet high, with
several leafy, rough stems and harsh, rather shiny leaves. The fine
flowers measure four inches across, with bright yellow rays, deeper
yellow centers, and bronze, rough, rather resinous involucres. This is
common around Reno and grows in dry mountain valleys as far east as
Colorado.
[Sidenote: =Hairy Golden Aster=
_Chrysópsis villòsa_
=Yellow
Summer
Arizona, etc.=]
A striking plant, quite handsome, with a hairy, pale, leafy stem,
from six inches to two feet tall, and gray-green, rather velvety
leaves, generally toothless. The flowers are an inch or more across,
with bright golden-yellow rays and centers of the same shade, growing
singly, or in a more or less crowded cluster at the top of the stalk.
This is common in open ground and dry hills, up to an altitude of ten
thousand feet, as far east as Alabama, and there are many varieties.
The Greek name means "golden aspect."
[Sidenote: =Velvet-rosette=
_Psathyròtes ánnua_
=Yellow
Spring
Southwest=]
A curious and pretty little desert plant, that looks as if it were
trying to protect itself from cold rather than heat, as its pretty
foliage and stems seem all made of silvery, gray velvet, forming
a symmetrical rosette, dotted with the small, rayless, yellow
flower-heads, like fuzzy buttons. The rosette is decorative in form,
about a foot across, spreading flat and close to the ground, and is
conspicuous on the bare sand of the desert. Only one of the branches is
given in the picture.
[Sidenote: =Easter Daisy, Ground Daisy=
_Townséndia exscàpa_
=Pink
Spring
Ariz., New Mex. to Saskatchewan=]
This is a charming and quaint little plant, with close, downy rosettes
of small, gray-green leaves and two or three, pretty, daisy-like
flowers, all crowded together close to the ground. The flowers are over
an inch across, with numerous, pale-pink rays, deeper pink on the under
side, and a bright yellow center, and when they bloom in early spring,
on bare rocky soil, they are exceedingly attractive.
There are a great many kinds of Erigeron, widely distributed, most
abundant in the New World, easily confused with Asters, but usually
with numerous and finer rays, so that the effect is more delicate.
[Illustration: Easter Daisy--Townsendia exscapa.]
[Illustration: Velvet-rosette--Psathyrotes annua.
Hairy Golden Aster--Chrysopsis villosa.