Stem.—Erect, one to three feet high, woolly. Leaves.—Lance-shaped. Flower-heads.—Yellowish-white, clustered at the summit of the branches, composed of many tubular flowers.
This is the “fragrant life-everlasting,” as Thoreau calls it, of late summer. It abounds in rocky pastures and throughout the somewhat open woods.
Note.—Flowers so faintly tinged with color as to give a white effect in the mass or at a distance are placed in the White section: greenish or greenish-white flowers are also found here. The Moth Mullein (p. [152]) and Bouncing Bet (p. [196]) are found frequently bearing white flowers: indeed, white varieties of flowers which are usually colored, need never surprise one.
II
YELLOW
Marsh Marigold.
Caltha palustris. Crowfoot Family.
Stem.—Hollow, furrowed. Leaves.—Rounded, somewhat kidney-shaped. Flowers.—Golden-yellow. Calyx.—Of five to nine petal-like sepals. Corolla.—None. Stamens.—Numerous. Pistils.—Five to ten, almost without styles.
Hark, hark! the lark at Heaven’s gate sings,
And Phœbus ’gins arise,
His steeds to water at those springs,
On chaliced flowers that lies: