Aster. COMPOSITE. 193 



high: cauline leaves (either thinnish or rather firm) lanceolate (2 to 6 inches long, 3 to 8 

 lines broad iii the middle), tapering to both ends, inserted by a narrow base, commonly ser- 

 rate along the middle by acute and appressed or erect teeth : bracts of the involucre linear 

 and acute, loosely imbricated and the small green tips commonly spreading ; outer foliaceous 

 ones few and not dilated, often wanting : rays 5 or 6 lines long. DC. Prodr. v. 209 (not of 

 herb. DC.), & Hook. !1. ii. 11 ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 138. A. subspicatus, Nees, Ast. 74, 

 from Cape Mulgrave, Alaska, is doubtless a form of this or of the next, and the name might 

 apply to some specimens of either with contracted inflorescence. Moist ground, commonly 

 in shade, Northern Brit. Columbia to Oregon and N. California. 



A. foliaceus, LIXDL. Smooth and glabrous, or upper part of stem tomentulose or pubes- 

 cent : leaves from broadly lanceolate to oblong and the lower spatulate, entire or nearly so ; 

 upper cauline very commonly with partly clasping and sometimes even subcordate-auriculate 

 base : heads half-inch high, wheu few or solitary fully as broad, when more numerous less 

 ample : involucre mostly with conspicuous loose foliaceous lanceolate or broadly linear outer 

 bracts, which equal the inner, or sometimes more imbricated and squarrose : rays violet or 

 purple, in the larger heads nearly half-inch long. DC. Prodr. v. 228. Here made to in- 

 clude very various forms. The originals, from Uualaska and Sitka, are rather low, simple, or 

 simple-stemmed with short monocephalous branches, leafy about the heads : farther south it 

 becomes more branching, 2 or 3 feet high ; generally differing from the preceding species 

 in the ampler and broader as well as entire leaves, disposed to be half-clasping at base, and 

 the leafy-bracted or much greener involucre. A. Douylasii, Eaton, Bot. King Exp. 141, & 

 Gray, Bot. Calif, i. 324, mainly. Wet ground, Alaska, Brit. Columbia, and along the moun- 

 tains to eastern part of California and Nevada. Eastward it passes into 



Var. frondeus. Stem simple or with sparing erect flowering branches, sparsely 

 leaved : leaves comparatively ample, 4 or 5 inches long; lower tapering into winged petioles, 

 upper often with clasping base : heads solitary or few, naked-pedunculate, broad : involucral 

 bracts linear-lanceolate, loose and not imbricated, all equalling the disk, occasionally the 

 outermost broader and leaf-like. A. adscendcns, var. Purr/ji, Eaton, Bot. King Exp. 139. 

 Subalpiue on the Cascade and Eocky Mountains, from the borders of Brit. Columbia to 

 those of Colorado and the Wahsatch in Utah. 



Var. apricus. Like a dwarf state of the preceding variety, grown in exposed places, 

 somewhat rigid, thicker-leaved : stems ascending from tufted rootstocks, a span or two high, 

 bearing solitary or 2 to 3 broad heads : iuvolucral bracts all alike, somewhat spatulate-liuear, 

 obtuse or acutish : ra\s "deep blue-violet and reddish-purple intermixed."- liigh mountains 

 of Colorado, at Union Pass, Rothrock, and near Gray's Peak, at 11,000-12,000 feet, in open 

 and very dry places, Patterson. On Mount Paddo, Washington Terr., Saksdorf, Howell, 

 the latter in a taller form, and looking toward A. spathulatus. 



Var. Parryi. Includes some ambiguous forms, seemingly between the preceding 

 variety and A. Fremonti, with stems a span to a foot high, with smooth and thickish rather 

 large leaves, mostly naked heads; the involucre sometimes foliaceous-bracteate in the man- 

 ner of the present species, sometimes wholly of the narrow and closer bracts of A. 

 Fremonti. With that species this has been referred to A. adsccndens. Rocky Mountains of 

 Colorado, subalpine, Parry (417), Hall & Harbour (253), Vasey (251), &c., and S. Wyoming, 

 H. Engelmann. 



Var. Burkei. A foot or two high, rather stout, simple or branched above, leafy to 

 the top : leaves thickish, very smooth, ample ; upper cauline mostly oblong, and with 

 broadly half-clasping usually auriculate insertion : heads solitary or several, very broad : in- 

 volucre of oblong or spatulate and obtuse loosely imbricated bracts, the outer commonly 

 shorter, or outermost sometimes more foliaceous and equalling the disk. Km-ky Mountains, 

 Burke in herb. Hook. Siincoe Hills, Washington Terr., Howell. Wahsatch Mountains at 

 Alta, Utah, M. K. Jnnrs. Mogollon Mountains, New Mexico, and Arizona, Rnsby. 



Var. Canbyi. Like the preceding form in foliage, apparently tall and stout (base of 

 stem and lower leaves wanting), leafy throughout the thyrsoid panicle of numerous sub- 

 sessile heads: these comparatively small: upper leaves (only ones seen) rather broadly 

 oblong and with broad half-clasping base obscurely auriculate : bracts of the involucre im- 

 bricated, with small and erect lanceolate green tips, only in some heads a few of the outer- 

 most loose and foliaceous, but seldom equalling the disk. On White River in Western 

 Colorado, Vasey, 1868, distributed under the name of A. Canbyi, Vasey; perhaps a distinct 



species. 



13 



