GENUS 31. 



THISTLE FAMILY. 



409 



i. Aster carmesinus Burgess. Crimson-disk Aster. Fig. 4282. 



Stems erect, delicate, closely tufted, i-2 high, 

 glabrous, reddish brown, terete. Leaves all petioled, 

 glabrate, very thin, but firm and crisp, the lower and 

 basal ones oval, rounded, or with a small deep and 

 rounded sinus at the base, bluntly acute or short- 

 acuminate at the apex, crenate-serrate, the upper 

 ones sometimes ovate-lanceolate, the uppermost short- 

 elliptic ; petioles slender, the uppermost sometimes 

 winged ; inflorescence 5' broad, or less, usually of 

 about 5 convex glpmerules, each often of 10-15 short- 

 peduncled heads, its branches spreading, 3' long, or 

 less ; rays chiefly 6, white ; disk at first golden yellow, 

 finally deep purplish crimson ; florets broadly bell- 

 shaped ; outer bracts obtuse, ciliate, pale, with a green 

 tip ; achenes glabrous. 



On shaded rocks, near Yonkers, N. Y. Peculiar in its 

 dense glomerules subtended by large short-elliptic leaves, 

 but probably a race of A. divaricatus L. September. 



2. Aster tenebrosus Burgess. Long-leaved 

 Wood Aster. Fig. 4283. 



Stems solitary or scattered, glabrate, striate, 

 about 3 high. Leaves very thin and smooth, 

 slender-petioled, broadly oblong, coarsely toothed 

 with remote acuminate teeth, abruptly long- 

 acuminate at the apex, the basal sinus broad, 

 rounded, shallow, except in the lowest ones ; 

 leaves of the inflorescence lanceolate, subentire, 

 sessile, sometimes 4' long; inflorescence broadly 

 corymbose, heads about 4' high, often li' broad; 

 rays usually 9-12; disk pale yellow, becoming 

 purplish brown, the florets funnelform with a 

 long slender tube ; outer bracts chiefly elongated- 

 triangular, acute, green, the others linear, obtus- 

 ish, the green tip lance-linear; achenes generally 

 glabrous. 



In moist dark woodlands, New York to Virginia. 

 Peculiar in its large dark leaves with coarser teeth 

 than in the next species. Aug.-Sept. 



3. Aster divaricatus L. White Wood 

 Aster. Fig. 4284. 



Aster divaricatus L. Sp. PI. 873. 1753. 



Aster corymbosus Ait. Hort. Kew. 3: 207. 1789. 



Stems tufted, assurgent, flexuous, brittle, 

 terete, ii-2j high, glabrate at maturity. 

 Leaves thin, smoothish, slender-petioled, ovate- 

 lanceolate, dentate with sharp teeth, or the 

 small basal ones coarsely serrate, acute to 

 acuminate, the basal sinus broad or narrow ; 

 leaves of the inflorescence small, ovate and 

 acute to orbicular; corymb broad, flattfsh, re- 

 peatedly forked, the slender branches long, 

 divergent ; heads g"-\2" broad ; rays chiefly 

 6-9, linear, white ; disk turning brown ; bracts 

 of the involucre broad, ciliate, the rounded 

 tip with an inconspicuous green spot. 



In open woodlands and thickets, in rather dry 

 .soil, Quebec to Manitoba, Georgia and Tennessee. 

 Here regarded as consisting of many slightly dif- 

 fering races, a number of which have been con- 

 sidered species and varieties. Sept.-Oct. 



Aster yiridis Nees, remarkable for its coarse rough basal leaves, and large oval rhomboid rameal 

 ones, occasionally from New York and Pennsylvania to Virginia, may prove to be a hybrid between 

 the preceding and A. macrophyllus L. 



