(Plate CLXII.)

Family

Composite.

Colour

Reddish purple.

Odour

Scentless.

Range

Maine to Virginia and westward.

Time of Bloom

August, September.

Flower-heads: loosely clustered in corymbs on axillary flower-stalks and composed of tubular flowers. Involucre: of pointed purplish scales similar to those of the thistle. Leaves: lanceolate; netted-veined; rough. Stem: tall; leafy; angled; crisp.

There is just a little rivalry between the iron-weed and some of the members of the aster family, and we often find them disputing the possession of the roadside banks. Usually the asters come out victorious, and the iron-weed is then driven to seek refuge in the low meadows, where it begins the same feud over again with Joe-Pye-weed. It is a handsome, brilliant plant and at a distance might easily be mistaken for an aster. Its tubular flowers and involucre, however, at once remind us that it is the iron-weed.