1220 CARDUACEAE 
both bracts and pedicels canescent or even white with loose webBy hair: rays dark violet ; 
bract-tips diamond-form to deltoid. 
In dry soil, Kansas to Mississippi and Texas. Summer and fall. 
50. Aster patens Ait. Stem 3-9 dm. tall, slender, rough, divergently branched : 
leaf-blades sessile, ovate-oblong or oval, rough-pubescent, thick and somewhat rigid, 
strongly auriculate-clasping at the broad base, entire, acute, or the lower ones obtuse, 
2.5-7.5 cm. long, those of the branches much smaller and bract-like, their margins rough- 
ciliate: heads 25 mm. broad or more, solitary at the ends of the branches: involucres. 
campanulate ; bracts linear-oblong, finely pubescent or scabrous, often somewhat glandu- 
lar, imbricated, their green acute tips spreading: ray-flowers 20-30; ligules purplish- 
blue or deep violet, 8-12 mm. long: pappus tawny : achenes pubescent. 
In dry open places, Massachusetts to Minnesota, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Summer and fall. 
51. Aster tenuicaülis (C. Mohr) Burgess. Resembles A. patens; but its branches. 
long and slender, flagelliform and diffuse when well developed : leaves and heads smaller : 
pedicels longer, often 1-4 cm. : bracts and their tips much narrower, narrowly linear; 
bractlets mucronate-acute, catenate or forming a chain-like series along the pedicels, ap- 
Med or slightly spreading. [A. patens var. gracilis Hook. A. patens tenuicaulis €. 
ohr. 
In dry soil, Georgia to Texas and Oklahoma. Summer and fall. 
52. Aster subséssilis Burgess. Stem strong, erect, with several or many long 
parallel subhorizontal divaricate branches: leaves as in A. patens, but with obovate radi- 
cals and some obovate middle caulines; and many heads short-pedicelled, sessile and 
secund ; axile leaves very short and broad, pale; bracteals oval-oblong to lanceolate: 
heads nearly as in A. patens, with broad and nearly sessile base : peduncles usually only 0.5 
em. long: bracts very broad, short, bluntly rounded, puberulent, not ciliate nor glandu- 
lar. Differs from A. patens especially in its bracts and its secund subsessile heads. 
On plains or prairies, Missouri and Arkansas: alsoin Alabama, Fall. 
53. Aster pblogifdlius Muhl. Similar to A. patens in habit, but when well devel- 
oped much taller, more slender and soft: leaves larger; blades lanceolate to oblong- 
lanceolate, entire, thin or membranous, acuminate at the apex, strongly auriculate, clasping 
at the base, roughish above, pubescent beneath, usually narrowed below the middle, some- 
times 15 cm. long: heads usually numerous, 3-5 cm. broad, panicled or somewhat race- 
mose on the branches: involucre campanulate ; bracts lanceolate, glabrate, rather loose, 
with herbaceous tips: ray-flowers numerous ; ligules purple-blue. Resembles A. patens 
Ait.; but softer and taller; heads larger ; inflorescence narrow ; leaves elongated. 
In woods and thickets, New York to Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee. Later summer and fall. 
54. Aster oblongifdlius Nutt. Stem much branched, 3-7 dm. high, hirsute-pubes- 
cent, smooth with age, the branches divaricate or ascending ; leaves numerous, often 
crowded ; blades oblong or oblong-lanceolate, sessile by a broad or slightly clasping base, 
usually rigid, entire or mucronulate at the apex, rough or hispidulous on both sides, 
rough margined, those of the stem 3-5 cm. long, 4-8 mm. wide, those of the branches 
gradually smaller: heads corymbose, nearly 25 mm. broad: involucre hemispheric ; bracts 
much imbricated, glandular-aromatic, linear or linear-oblong, the acute green tips 
spreading: ray-flowers 20-30; ligules violet-purple, rarely rose-pink, 6-10 mm. long: 
pappus becoming light brown :. achenes canescent. 
On prairies and bluffs, Pennsylvania to Minnesota, Nebraska, Virginia, Tennessee, and Texas. 
Summer and fall. 
55. Aster Kumleinii Fries. Plant resembling A. oblongifolius, but low, chiefly 3 dm: 
high, with fastigiate bushy top of numerous subcorymbose branches, paler, harsher an d 
more rigid, smaller in all its parts, and much less pubescent : bracts looser and pee 
into investing bractlets below. Stem brown, brittle, terete: leaves hispidulous ; bla di 
oblong to linear, 4 cm. long, or less, obtuse or rounded at apex : inflorescence decompound : 
heads 2 cm. broad or less : rays violet-blue ; outer bracts recurvate, with much green tissue, 
their green tips linear-spatulate ; bracteals uniform, decurved, linear ; glands very short- 
stalked ; strigose pubescence little developed, all surfaces short-scabrous or hirtellous, or 
the stem finally glabrate. 
In dry exposed places, Wisconsin to Alabama, Colorado and Texas. Summer and fall. 
56. Aster Ndvae-Angliae L. Stem stout, 6-25 dm. high, hispid-pubescent, prar 
bosely branched above, very leafy : leaf-blades oblong-lanceolate, entire, acute, pubescent, 
5-12 cm. long, 12-25 mm. wide, each clasping by an auriculate base: heads Mire. 
3-5 em. broad, clustered at the ends of the branches : involucre hemispheric ; bracts uam E 
subulate, somewhat unequal, green, spreading, pubescent and more or less glandular-viscie : 
