[Sidenote: =Brass Buttons, Butter-heads=
_Cótula coronopifòlia_
=Yellow
Spring, summer, autumn
Cal., Oreg.=]
This little weed comes from South Africa, but is now common in wet
places, especially in the salt marshes around San Francisco Bay, often
carpeting the sand and mud with its succulent, trailing stems. The
bright green leaves are alternate and smooth, clasping the stem at
base, some with toothless edges, others variously cut and lobed, and
the flower-heads are about half an inch or less across, like the bright
yellow center of a Daisy, without rays. _Matricària matricarioìdes_
is another little weed, common along roadsides, with conical,
greenish-yellow flower-heads, without rays, and feathery foliage, which
has a strong pleasant fruity smell when crushed, giving it the name of
Pineapple-weed and Manzanilla.
[Sidenote: =Tetradymia=
_Tetradýmia spinòsa_
=Yellow
Spring
West, etc.=]
An odd desert shrub, about three feet high, with gray bark and crooked,
gnarly, tangled branches, armed with long spines and clothed with
small, downy, pale green leaves. The flower-heads are three-quarters
of an inch long, without rays, with pale yellow tube-shaped flowers
and downy, white involucres, and are so crowded on the twigs that they
appear to be loaded with them, but the coloring is too pale to be
effective. This is common in the Mohave Desert and elsewhere on dry
hills and plains, as far east as Colorado.
There are a great many kinds of Solidago, most of them natives of North
America. On the whole, the western Golden-rods are not so fine as the
eastern ones, nor are there so many kinds, though there are quite
enough to puzzle the amateur, as they are difficult to distinguish.
[Sidenote: =Arizona Golden-rod=
_Solidàgo trinervàta_
=Yellow
Summer
Arizona=]
A handsome kind, from one to two feet high, with flower-heads nearly
three-eighths of an inch across, with bright yellow rays and centers,
forming a large, handsome, plume-like cluster. The stem and leaves are
dull bluish-green, rather stiff and rough, the lower leaves with a few
obscure teeth. This grows at the Grand Canyon. _S. occidentàlis_,
Western Golden-rod, is smooth all over, with leafy stems, from three
to five feet tall, toothless leaves, and flat-topped clusters of
small, yellow, sweet-scented flowers. This grows in marshes and along
the banks of streams, in California, Oregon, and Washington, blooming
in summer and autumn. _S. Califórnica_, California Golden-rod, is
from two to four feet high, with grayish-green, roughish leaves, the
lower ones toothed, and small yellow flowers, forming dense pyramidal
clusters, from four to thirteen inches long. This grows on dry plains
and hillsides and in the mountains, throughout California and in
Oregon, blooming in the autumn. It is called Orojo de Leabre by the
Spanish-Californians.
[Illustration: Tetradymia spinosa.
Arizona Golden-rod--Solidago trinervata.