This section is from the book "A Guide To The Wild Flowers", by Alice Lounsberry. Also available from Amazon: A Guide to the Wild Flowers.
Bright yellow.
Scentless.
Occasional in the eastern and middle states.
Summer.
Flower-heads: large; showy; clustered closely together and bursting out later into a soft, downy pappus. Involucre: of numerous strap-like scales. Leaves: long, pointed, blade-like; clasping by a heart-shaped base; saw-toothed. Stem: one to three feet high; branched; hollow; bristly.
In dry fields and along roadsides; in salt meadows and by streams we find this showy, coarse weed. It has come to us from Europe and is also a native of Asia. Every year it extends its range and becomes more common. The flower opens at five o'clock in the morning, begins to close at about eleven o'clock and by noon it has enti'rely shut out the world.
 
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