One of the most conspicuous yellow flowers is the Meadow Lily, or the Wild Yellow Lily.

The St. John's Wort is a common flower of this season of the year. It seems to flourish in the waste places, while both the moth mullein and the common mullein are close companions.

When the white daisies are beginning to wane, the yellow daisies or Black-eyed Susans begin to bloom. The Jewel Weed is also called by some "Touch-me-Not," on account of the few seed pods, which burst when touched, showing the seeds.

At twilight and in the early morning the Evening Primrose opens its dull yellow blossoms. During the middle of the day the flowers are closed.

Other summer yellow flowers:

Yellow Clover—Fields and roadsides.

Bladderwort—Ponds and streams.

Partridge Pea—Sandy Soil.

Probably the foremost among these is the Common Milkweed, with its dull pink clustered flowers that later turn into a pod filled with silky fibers, which the children love to break open and set afloat in the wind. It is called "Milkweed" on account of the white sticky fluid which it exhumes from the broken stems.

Along the roadside and meadows purplish-pink flowers of the Fireweed are in bloom.

One of the most beautiful of the pink midsummer flowers is the Mallow that makes lively our swamps with its large pale pink flowers.

Other summer pink flowers:

Steeplebush—Low places.

Purple Loosestrife—Marshes.

Meadow Beauty—Sandy soil.

Tick Trefoil—Midsummer woods.

Two lilies of midsummer are the Wild Lily and the Turk's Cap Lily; the Turk's Cap Lily, with its drooping flowers, and the Wild Lily, with its upright flowers, that grow in our meadows, the Wild Lily in the shady woods.

Here and there in the midsummer fields is a patch of the bright flame-color orange-red Butterfly Weed. This belongs to the Milkweed family. They present to the eye some of the most vivid patches of color of the summer fields.

Growing in the waste places from June until September are the closed heads of the "Self Heal," with its bluish-purple flowers and the spikes of the dainty little vervain.

Blooming in midsummer is the aromatic little Pennyroyal, one of the mint family.

Without doubt the one flower that holds the foremost rank of the late summer and autumn flowers is the Golden-rod.

The Wild Sunflower and the Bur Marigold, or "Stick-tight," belong to the same family as the Golden-rod, the Composite Family.

Witch-hazel Shrubs are now coming into bloom, blooming when everything else is getting ready for the winter nap.

Other late summer yellow flowers:

False Foxgloves—Dry woodland.

Yellow Thistle—Sandy coast soil.

The Rattlesnake Plantain has peculiar leaves veined with white. The Indians believed that application of the leaves of this plant would cure a snake bite.

One of the shrubs that blooms at this season of the year is the Sweet Pepperbush, which is becoming popular as a cultivated shrub in our gardens and lawns. It seems to bloom best in those localities where there is considerable moisture in the atmosphere.

The dry fields are now thickly covered with the white asters.

Other late summer white flowers:

Ladies' Tresses—Wet places in autumn.

Pearly Everlasting—Woods and fields.

A common roadside flower is the Pink Knotweed, with its branching stems and groups of bright pink flowers.

The Bouncing Bet is now growing sturdily, with its pinkish-white flowers, and close to the Butterfly Weed blooms the "Joe Pye Weed," with its dusky purplish-pink clusters, while the Golden-rod and Asters are in flower.

Other late summer pink flowers:

Purple Gerardia—Low dry ground.

False Dragon Head—Wet fields.

In the late summer, along the edges of ponds and streams and in the midst of swamps, gleam the bright, ragged flowers of the Cardinal flower, the brightest red flower of early autumn.

The Blue Chicory or Succory brightens up our roadsides in late summer when the fields are full of blue and purple Asters. There are over one hundred different species of wild Asters, all belonging to the Composite Family, the same family that the Golden-rod, Daisies, and Sunflowers are members of. The Composite Family, in fact, is in majority at this season of the year.

Both the closed and fringed Gentian come to us in late September, with their beautiful blue flowers—blue of a beautiful shade.

Other late summer flowers—blue and purple:

Blazing Star—Marsh land.

Iron Weed—Roadsides and fields.

INDEX