CONE FLOWER.
_Rudbeckia fulgida._
THE Cone Flower is one of the handsomest of our rayed flowers. The
gorgeous flaming orange dress, with the deep purple disk of almost
metallic lustre, is one of the ornaments of all our wild open
prairie-like plains during the hot months of July, August and September.
We find the Cone Flower on the sunny spots among the wild herbage of
grassy thickets, associated with the wild Sunflowers, Asters and other
plants of the widely diffused Composite Order.
During the harvest months, when the more delicate spring flowers are
ripening their seed, our heat-loving Rudbeckias, Chrysanthemums,
Sunflowers, Coreopsises, Ox-eyes, and Asters, are lifting their starry
heads to greet the light and heat of the sun’s ardent rays, adorning the
dry wastes, gravelly and sandy hills, and wide grassy plains, with their
gay blossoms;
“Bright flowers that linger as they fall.
Whose last are dearest.”
Many of these compound flowers possess medicinal qualities. Some, as the
thistle, dandelion, wild lettuce, and others, are narcotic, being
supplied with an abundance of bitter milky juice. The Sunflower,
Coreopsis, Cone-Flower, Tagweed, and Tansy, contain resinous properties.
The beautiful Aster family, if not remarkable for any peculiarly useful
qualities, contains many highly ornamental plants. Numerous species of
these charming flowers belong to our Canadian flora; lingering with us
“When fairer flowers are all decayed,”
brightening the waste places and banks of lakes and lonely streams with
starry flowers of every hue and shade—white, pearly blue, and deep
purple; while the Solidagoes (golden rod), are celebrated for the
valuable dyes that are yielded by their deep golden blossoms. But to
return to the subject of our artist’s plate, the Cone Flower:
The plant is from one to three feet in height, the stem simple, or
branching, each branchlet terminating in a single head. The rays are of
a deep orange colour, varying to yellow; the leaves broadly lanceolate,
sometimes once or twice lobed, partly clasping the rough, hairy stem,
hoary and of a dull green, few and scattered. The scales of the chaffy
disk are of a dark, shining purple, forming a somewhat depressed cone.
This species, with a slenderer-stemmed variety, with rays of a golden
yellow, are to be met with largely diffused over the Province.
Many splendid species of the Cone Flower are to be found in the
wide-spread prairies of the Western States, where their brilliant starry
flowers are mingled with many a gay blossom known only to the wild
Indian hunter, and the herb-seeking medicine men of the native tribes,
who know their medicinal and healing qualities, if they are insensible
to their outward beauties.
* * * * *
Transcriber’s Notes:
Captitalization of genus and species names is inconsistant and has been
left as in the original. Hyphenation of some plant names and use of
apostrophes in some names is inconsistent and have been left as in the
original. Modern spelling of common and Latin names differs in some
cases but spelling of names has been left as in the original. Obvious
type-setting errors and punctuation have been corrected without note.
Other corrections have been noted below.
Plates for this book were used for previous publications by the same
authors, one being _Canadian Wild Flowers_. The plates were used in a
different order in this book and as a result some numbers printed on the
plates did not match the Table of Contents. Therefore, some plate
numbers in the text have been changed to match the Table of Contents.
Those changes are noted below.
page 7, day at Waltham Abby. ==> day at Waltham Abbey.
plate, _PLATE X._ ==> _PLATE I._
page 14, pointed involcure are ==> pointed involucre are
plate, _PLATE III._ ==> _PLATE II._
page 31, supports the stigmata. ==> supports the stigma.
plate, _PLATE IV._ ==> _PLATE III._
plate, _PLATE II._ ==> _PLATE IV._
page 42, few that are were ornamental ==> few that are more ornamental
plate, _PLATE VI._ ==> _PLATE V._
plate, _PLATE V._ ==> _PLATE VI._
plate, _PLATE I._ ==> _PLATE X._
[End of North American Wild Flowers, by Agnes FitzGibbon and Catharine
Parr Traill]