[Illustration: PRAIRIE ZINNIA TEXAS STAR DAISY]
Texas Star Daisy. Lindheimer’s Daisy (_Lindheimera texana_) shows its star-like flower heads early in the spring while the plants are low and the leaves are closely clustered. By June the plants are tall and widely branched above. This plant honors by its name Ferdinand J. Lindheimer, an early settler of New Braunfels and editor of the “Neu Braunfelser Zeitung.” Lindheimer began his collection of Texas plants in 1836 and continued until his death in 1879. With the assistance of Dr. George Engelmann of St. Louis and Dr. Asa Gray of Harvard University, Lindheimer’s collections between 1842 and 1852, representing more than 1400 species of plants, were classified and distributed to the leading herbaria of Europe and America. A part of this collection is owned by the University of Texas Herbarium.
Prairie Zinnia (_Zinnia grandiflora_) grows in low, rounded clumps from Kansas to Mexico and Arizona and blooms from June to September. The bright yellow ray flowers are nearly round and remain on the seeds. With age they become papery, and the yellow disk flowers turn reddish-brown. The common zinnia in cultivation was introduced from Mexico.
[Illustration: CUT-LEAVED DAISY. ENGELMANN’S DAISY]
Cut-Leaved Daisy. Engelmann’s Daisy (_Engelmannia pinnatifida_) is closely related to the sunflowers but has the daisy habit of closing the flower heads at night and opening them in bright sunlight. It is one of the commonest plants on prairies from Kansas to Louisiana and Arizona and grows in dense patches along roadsides and pastures from April to July.
The rough, hairy plants grow one to three feet high and are topped by broad clusters of long-stalked, showy yellow heads which are 1½-2 inches broad. The divided leaves are short-stalked on the lower part of the stem and on the upper part have clasping basal lobes.
This daisy honors the name of Dr. George Engelmann, an eminent botanist of St. Louis, who died in 1884.
Niggerhead. Thimble Flower (_Ratibida columnaris_) is also called Mexican hat, niggertoe, “gallitos,” long-headed or prairie cone-flower, and black-eyed Susan, though the last term is erroneously used. It is a very handsome plant, which is widely distributed on plains from Southern Canada to Arizona, Texas, and Tennessee. In South Texas it is at its best in April and May; in North Texas it is lovely in late May and June.