Solidago. COMPOSITE. 153 



a. Eays from none to 3: leaves clasping! 



S. amplexicaulis, TORR. & GRAY. Minutely soft-pubescent or glabrate : stem slender, 

 1 to 3 feet high, with spreading branches : leaves ovate, acute or acuminate, acutely serrate, 

 rather scabrous above and soft-pubescent beneath; the upper slightly narrowed above tin- 

 dilated auriculate-clasping base; lower cauline with longer contracted portion; lowest and 

 radical \viug-petioled below the truncate or subcordate base of the lamina (this about 2 im-hc-s 

 long) : racemiform clusters of the thyrsus slender, secund, often simple : pappus shorter than 

 the disk-corolla. Fl. ii. 218 (not Martens, which is S. Riddellii) ; Chapm. Fl. 213. Opeii 

 dry woods, Florida to Louisiana, Leavenworth, Chapman, lim/rl, distributed by Shuttleworth 

 as S. auriculata. Makes the nearest approach to Bracfii/chceta. 



b. Rays 4 to 6 or rarely more, small, and disk-flowers little more numerous: leaves sessile by a 

 narrow base, pinnately veiny : pubescence of spreading hairs, or hardly any. 



S. rugosa, MILL. Stem hirsute or pubescent with spreading hairs, low or moderately tall 

 (1 to 6 feet high), mostly slender, very leafy to the top : leaves thin and soft, or in dry open 

 ground becoming thicker and firmer, from oval-ovate to oblong-lanceolate (1 to 4 inches 

 long), mostly acute or acuminate, sometimes obtuse, usually hirsute on the veins and veinlets 

 beneath ; these conspicuous and often rugose-reticulated, sometimes scabrous above : in- 

 florescence when well developed recurvcd-spreadiug, but sometimes erect : bracts of the 

 involucre linear. Diet. ed. 8; Willd. Spec. iii. 2058; Ait. Kew. ed. 2, v. 66; Gray, Proc. 

 Am. Acad. xvii. 194. Vin/a-aurea sp., Dill. Elth. 406-41 1, t. 304, 305, 308, appended in L. Spec. 

 878 to S. altissima, but not referred to it. S. altissima & S. aspera, Ait Kew. iii. 212 ; Willd. 

 1. c. S. scabra, Muhl. in Willd. 1. c. &. vil/osn, Pursh, Fl. ii. 537. S. J<unn/is, Desf. Cat. 

 ed. 3, 402 ; DC. 1. c., a low form, commonly with the racemiform clusters erect, or hardly 

 spreading and secund. S. aspemla, Desf. Cat. I.e. 403 ? S. hirta, Willd. Euum. 891. 5. ri- 

 ijidula, Bosc, in hort. Paris "? S. asperata, Soland. mss., and so of Pursh as to herb. Banks. 

 >S*. altissima, Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 216 (incl. ahissima, pilosa, recurvata, Virginiana, Mill. 

 Diet.), not L. Moist or dry ground, Newfoundland and Labrador to Texas; very common 

 eastward in the Atlantic States. Polymorphous, not readily sorted into definable varieties ; 

 in shade thin-leaved ; in open and dry soil has small and brpader, firmer, more scabrous, and 

 rugose-reticulated leaves. S. riu/osa, Mill., is the best of the old names to take up. 



S. ulmifolia, MUHL. Resembles the thinner-leaved and least pubescent forms of the pre- 

 ceding (into which it appears to pass), but with stem smooth and glabrous, except perhaps 

 the summit : leaves bright green, nearly smooth and glabrous, or pubescent, membranaceous, 

 acute or acuminate at both ends, usually coarsely serrate, the larger veins conspicuous but 

 veinlets inconspicuous : thyrsus more naked: bracts of the involucre of firmer texture and 

 more obtuse. Willd. Spec. iii. 2060; Darlingt. Fl. Cest. 457; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 217. 

 S. latfriftora, Ait. Kew. iii. 211, not L. Moist woodlands and copses, Maine to Iowa, Arkan- 

 sas, and Texas. S. mulliflora, Desf. (in Poir. Suppl. v. 462) Cat. 1. c. 402, DC. Prodr. v. 336, 

 appears to be a state of this, altered by cultivation. 



Var. micropliylla. A reduced and rather rigid form ; with lower leaves 2 inches 

 long; upper reduced to half au inch, obtuse, obscurely serrate. Texas, Lindhcimcr, 

 Wright. 



= = === Leaves usually of firm texture and inconspicuous reticulation, occasionally thin and 

 membranaceous or more veiny, not scabrous above, commonly glabrous as also the stems: 

 bracts of the involucre from broadly linear to narrowly oblong, obtuse. 



a. Stem equably and very leafy up to or into the pyramidal compound thyrsus: leaves compara- 

 tively short and broad, even the lower not much narrowed downward, the secondary veins 

 often manifest. 



S. Elliottii, TORR. & GRAY. Smooth and glabrous throughout, or the thyrsus somewhat 

 pubescent : stem tall, rigid : leaves from ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, apiculate-acumi- 

 nate or acute, minutely and sparsely serrate with appressed teeth, scabrous on the margin, 

 mostly closely sessile by a broadish base (1 to 4 inches long) : heads (3 lines long) crowded 

 on the secund and spreading or sometimes ascending and straight racemiform or spiciform 

 branches of the pyramidal panicle : bracts of the involucre rather broadly linear : rays 8 to 

 12, short: akenes pubescent. Fl. ii. 218, and S.elliptica of the same, as to the plant of 

 New York. S. elliptica? Ell. Sic. ii. 376. S. elongata, Hort. Par. 1832. --Moist ground near 

 the coast, Massachusetts to New York and through the low country south to Georgia. 



