Family, Composite. Color, a rich purple. Corollas, all tubular. Flowers, in dense, thistle-like heads, growing in irregular cymes. Involucre, composed of purplish scales. 4 to 8 feet high. Leaves, long, narrow, alternate, acute, rough, slightly toothed, 3 to 10 inches long. Heads, 20 to 40-flowered, all peduncled. July to September.

In low meadows, moist soil, Maine to Virginia and westward, near the coast. A tall, showy, common plant, vying with Joe Pyeweed in making the meadows bright with rich.

Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis)

Autumnal color. Other species arc found in the prairies west and south of New York. (See illustration, p. 356.)