This species may be seen from June to November. It may easily be known by the fringed petioles of the lowest, sharply toothed leaves. Upper leaves narrow, entire, sessile. Stem, 1 1/2 to 4 feet high, commonly about 2 feet. Flowers have small rays, and are arranged in close, heavy, drooping, corymblike panicles upon the upper sides of the branchlets.

A common form, in dry fields from far north, Hudson Bay to North Carolina.

S. serotina. - Stem, tall, thick, rough, from 2 to 7 feet high. Leaves, tapering, very acute, thin, sharply toothed, smooth above and beneath. Flowers, in a large, spreading, handsome panicle. July to September.

In rich or poor soil, thickets, copses, fields, etc.

Var. gigantea is 5 to 8 feet high. A large, flowing panicle of bright-yellow flowers caps the stout, rough stem.

Abundant along fences, in fields and waste places.