44 Coreopsis rosea.
three, small; disk gamboge-yellow, rays about eight, peach-blossom
red, three-toothed, middle tooth large. Peduncles slender. Exterior
calix small, interior consisting of eight segments or leaves.
Seeds entire, naked. In the grassy swamps of Jersey, and thence to
Georgia; flowering in August.
The generic term Coreopsis, is derived from «/»«, a bug, and .+<(,
appearance, in allusion to a fancied resemblance of the seed to an
insect. This genus, with the accessions made to it by late discoveries,
contains at this time, about twenty-two or twenty-three species. The
one here noticed, is frequent in the lower part of the state of New
Jersey, near and below Salem, and is also found as far as Georgia
in abundance. To Mr. Nuttall we are indebted for the first description
of it. The flowers vary somewhat in colour, some being nearly
white, while others, and the greatest proportion, are of the hue represented
in the plate. In shaded situations, the white flowers are
most frequent, and as the blossom-colour becomes stronger in those
plants exposed to the sun, cultivation of this species would probably
much improve its colour, as well as render it more robust.
It thrives best when contiguous to water; and in such situations as
afford it a free supply of moisture, it grows tall, and thick as grass.
The plate represents the upper portion of a flowering specimen,
the size of the wild plant.