75 
Of Valerianaceous plants 16 species are mentioned, some 
of which belong to Valerianella, here called Fedia. 
Of Dipsacez but one species has been found, and that the 
Dipsacus sylvestris of Europe. 
The whole of the remainder of this part of Drs. Torrey 
and Gray’s work is occupied with Composite, which extend 
to the end of DeCandolle’s Astereze, comprehending therefore 
the difficult genus Aster. The genus Liatris has been studied 
with care, and some additions have been made to it; never- 
theless the species are reduced to 19, partly in consequence of 
the separation of the genus Carphephorus, and partly from the 
abolition of several so called species ; L. intermedia is referred 
to L. squarrosa; L. stricta to cylindracea; L. levigata to 
tenuifolia ; L. pauciflosculosa to gracilis; L. virgata, pilosa, 
dubia, and turbinata to graminifolia; L. resinosa to spicata ; 
L. brachystachya to pycnostachya ; L. spheroidea, borealis, 
heterophylla, squarrulosa and aspera to scariosa. Similar 
reductions are made in Eupatorium and other large genera ; 
but it is in Aster that we find most to remark upon. 
This genus, whose species most abound in the United 
States, has been subjected to several dismemberments by mo- 
dern Botanists. Galatella, Sericocarpus, and Diplopappus 
are adopted by our authors, who add the Dieteria of Nuttall 
for some pinnatifid species ; but they reject Biotia, Tripolium, 
we think unadvisedly, for the two latter genera are surely as 
well characterised as Galatella at least. It is in the genus 
Aster, strictly limited, that occur those crowds of varieties, 
mules, sports, species, or whatever else they may be called, 
which originating, or at least appearing for the first time, in 
European gardens, have successively exercised the ingenuity 
of garden Botanists, from Willdenow and Nees down to 
DeCandolle. Our authors have not only had good materials 
for study, but have also been able to profit by the experience 
of those Botanists who have preceded them ; they have judi- 
ciously employed these means, confining themselves to the 
plants known to be really wild, and thus avoiding those 
sources of error which are almost certain to exist among 
species domesticated for many years. The result of their ex- 
amination has been to reduce the species very considerably, 
sometimes in all probability with reason, as in the case of A. 
spectabilis, ericoides, and miser, but in other instances with 
doubtful justice, as in the instances of A. dumosus from which 
October, K.—1841. k 
