_Chrysopsis mariana_
_Flower-heads_--Composite, yellow, 1 in. wide or less, a few corymbed
flowers on glandular stalks; each composed of perfect tubular disk
florets surrounded by pistillate ray florets; the involucre
campanulate, its narrow bracts overlapping in several series. _Stem:_
Stout, silky, hairy when young, nearly smooth later, 1 to 2-1/2 ft.
tall. _Leaves:_ Alternate, oblong to spatulate, entire.
_Preferred Habitat_--Dry soil, or sandy, not far inland.
_Flowering Season_--August-September.
_Distribution_--Long Island and Pennsylvania to the Gulf states.
Whoever comes upon clumps of these handsome flowers by the dusty
roadside cannot but be impressed with the appropriateness of their
generic name (_Chrysos_ = gold; _opsis_ = aspect). Farther westward,
north and south, it is the Hairy Golden Aster (_C. villosa_), a pale,
hoary-haired plant with similar flowers borne at midsummer, that is the
common species.