372 CONTKIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 608749, collected at Kilbourn, Sauk 

 County, Wisconsin, from shady cliffs of the Wisconsin River, August 20, 1909, by E. S. 

 Steele (no. 42). Fourteen specimens, 10 of this date and number, were preserved, and 



4 of no. 51, August 27. The plant is found in both the upper and the lower "Dells," in 

 clefts and on shelves, and even in thin soil on top of the rock, but nowhere in the blaze 

 of the sun and often in much shaded and damp situations. 



The nearest relationship of S. sciaphila is doubtless with S. gillmanii, the likeness 

 being most manifest in the forms with less expanded, rhombic-ovate leaves. The 

 two species may well be conceived as having come from a common stock, S. gill- 

 manii having adapted itself to endure strong insolation though with a good moisture 

 supply, for it is not believed that even the dune sands are ever dry to any great depth; 

 S. sciaphila having taken on the capacity to subsist without strong sunshine and per- 

 haps with less soil moisture than S, gillmani, for there can hardly be much water in 

 these clefts. The two agree in loving a siliceous substrate and enjoying the scent of 

 fresh water. The occurrence of S. sciaphila on rock can not by itself be taken as proof 

 of specialization, for common S. nemoralis, likewise Vasiphora fruticosa, and other 

 ordinary plants, appear in crevices of the same rocks, though in exposed situations, 

 while a dwarf state of Lycopus communis (or a species very close to that) becomes an 

 abundant inhabitant of moist cliffs along with the genuine cliff dweller Sullivantia 

 sullivanlii. In the want of evidence to the contrary, however, the presumption is 

 strong that our plant is, like Sullivantia, entirely confined to these situations. The 

 difference in the adaptations of S. gillmani and S. sciaphila appears outwardly in the 

 paler aspect, softer wood, thinner and much larger leaves, and the leaf-like bracts of 

 the latter. Other details of specific difference could be pointed out if necessary. 



Aster choralis Steele, sp. nov. 



Forming patches by its slender, red purple rootstocks; stems percurrent, 75 to 100 

 cm. high, slender, leaning and somewhat arched, of a bright red purple, smooth 

 save for a scanty puberulence high in the inflorescence; stem leaves sparse, excurved- 

 spreading, the lower (wanting at flowering-time) 9 to 11 cm. long, with a slender 

 margined petiole about as long as the blade, the following with shorter and broader 

 petioles, these soon giving way to a cuncate basal segment and at least in the inflores- 

 cence lost entirely; base of the lower petioles little broader than the insertion; leaf 

 blades oblong-ovate to ovate-lanceolate, apparently none cordate, distinctly acumi- 

 nate, the margin incurved-serrate in the middle, firm, of medium thickness, dark 

 green and scaberulous above, beneath paler, sparingly puberulent, rather distinctly 

 feather- veined, densely reticulate; inflorescence little compounded, ovoid with an 

 acutely conical summit, loose below, above more crowded; branches slender, usually 

 somewhat curved, between spreading and ascending, the longest 12 to 20 cm., rarely 

 28 cm. long, only occasionally with secondary branches; peduncular branchlets fairly 

 numerous, occupying the outer half of the longer branches or a larger part of the 

 shorter ones, mainly 1 to mm. long and bearing a single head, the longer with 1 to 



5 bracteoles, the uppermost of these marked like a tegule; involucre campanulate, 

 in the fresh plant well filled out below, 3 mm. high, in the pressed plant appearing 

 3.5 mm.; tegules in about 4 series, broadly linear with a deltoid or somewhat ovate 

 apex, the lozenge-shaped green marking very heavy for the size of the head; rays 

 oblong-oval, 4 mm. long, of a pale blue, near lavender; achenes with delicate strigose 

 hairs. 



Type U. S. National Herbarium no. G48481, collected at Oakland, Garrett County, 

 Maryland, altitude 780 meters, September 19, 1910, by E. S. Steele. 



A single patch of some 40 stems was found, from which 18 specimens were taken. 

 The exact locality is the steep slope at the rear of the hotel south of the railroad sta- 

 tion. The exposure is northern but the ground not shaded. 



The affinity of Aster choralis is doubtless with A. schistosus and A. lowricanus, 

 notwithstanding the roughness of the leaves, as testify the leaf form and texture,' 



