Solidago. COMPOSITE. 157 



Texas. From Willdenow to the latest authors this has passed as the true 5. serotlna, and 

 that for this. 



-H- -H- Minutely pubescent or glabrate, not cinereous nor scabrous, thinnish-leaved. and the 

 lateral ribs commonly obscure: panicle mostly erect and thyrsiform, often compact, and the 

 heads little if at all secund: involucre of small and thin narrow bracts: rays 12 to 18, small. 

 (Related to the preceding and following, also to S. riiyosa.) 



S. lepida, DC. A foot or two high: leaves from oblong to broadly lanceolate, acute, 3 or 4 

 inches Ion*;-, very sharply and mostly coarsely serrate, sometimes for most of their length, 

 sometimes only above the middle, in some the teeth almost none : thyrsus very short and 

 compact, an inch or two long, little surpassing the upper leaves, not at all secund : heads 

 fully 3 lines long : bracts of the involucre subulate-linear, attenuate-acute. Prodr. v. 339. 

 S. gigantea, Hook. Fl. ii. 2, in part. Alaska, coast and islands, Uanke, Kellogg, &c., and 

 Brit. Columbia. 



S. elongata, NOTT. Like the preceding, or taller, sometimes a yard high: leaves com- 

 monly narrower : thyrsus more developed and compound, 3 to 8 inches long, its branches 

 occasionally spreading : bracts of the involucre linear, acutish or obtuse. Trans. Am. Phil. 

 Soc. 1. c. ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. 223, mainly. S. stricta, Less, in Linn. vi. 502. S. data, Hook. 

 Fl. ii. 5, not Solander. Along streams, Brit. Columbia to California, and east to Montana, 

 Slave Lake, &c. Seemingly passes on the northwest coast into 6\ lepida, and eastward into 

 S. Canadensis. 



-H- -H- -M- Pubescent (at least the stem), either hirsutely or canescently, or hispid ulous-scabrous: 

 branches of the panicle when well developed secund. 



= Leaves tapering gradually to an acute or acuminate point, generally thin or thinnish: panicle 

 open, of naked and secund mostty recurving racemiform clusters: bracts of the involucre nar- 

 row and thin : rays small and short. 



S. Canadensis, L. Stem 2 to 6 feet high, from scabrous- or cinereous-puberulent to hirsute : 

 leaves mostly lanceolate, puberulent, pubescent, or nearly glabrous, sharply serrate or the 

 upper entire, veiny, and with lateral ribs prolonged parallel to the midrib : heads small, 

 ordinarily only 2 lines long: bracts of the involucre small and pale, narrowly linear, acutish 

 or obtuse : rays 9 to 16, more numerous than the disk-flowers. Spec. ii. 878 (excl. syn. 

 Pluk.); Ait. Kcw. iii. 210; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 221. S. altlssima, L. 1. c., that is Virga- 

 aurea altlssima, etc., Martyn, "Cent." (Hist. PI.) 14, t. 14 ; not of most subsequent authors, 

 who have followed the conjectural references to Dill. Elth. S. reflexa, Ait. 1. c. 211 ; Willd. 

 Spec. iii. 2056. S. nutans, Desf. Cat. ed. 3, 402. S. lonoifolia, Sdirader, in DC. Prodr. v. 330. 

 Moist or dry and shady ground, New Brunswick to Brit. Columbia (and north to Slave 

 Lake), south to Florida and mountains of Arizona: flowering rather early. The more 

 marked forms varying from the ordinary are the following. 



Var. procera, TORE. & GRAY, 1. c. Leaves less serrate or the upper entire, at least 

 the lower face and upper portion of the stem cinereous-pubescent or tomentulose with very 

 short and fine pubescence : inflorescence less open or the branches ascending in less de- 

 veloped or cultivated plants: heads sometimes larger. 5. procera, Ait. 1. c. ; Willd. 1. c. 

 S. emlncns, Bischoff , hort. Heidelb. Open ground, Canada and Saskatchewan to Idaho and 

 Texas, the northwestern forms commonly dwarf. 



Var. SCabra, TORR. & GRAY, 1. c. Like the foregoing, but the short pubescence 

 rough or hispidulous : leaves shorter, oblong-lanceolate to oblong-ovate, more entire, more 

 veiny (approaching rough-leaved forms of S. rwjosa) : heads sometimes 3 lines long. - 

 S. scabra, Muhl. Fl. Lancast. ined., not Willd., which is S. rugx<i. Drier and sunnier 

 places, Penn. to Florida and Texas. (S. scabrida, DC. Prodr. v. 331, of Mexico, appears to 

 be a form of this.) 



Var. canescens, GRAY. Stem and both faces of the narrow and commonly entire 

 leaves canescent with soft and fine pubescence: bracts of the involucre broader and more 

 obtuse. Proc. Am. Acad. xvii. 197. S. W. Texas, Berlandier, Lindkeimer, Bigdow, and 

 S. New Mexico, Thurber. 



Var. Arizonica, GRAY, 1. c. Minutely cinereous-pubescent or puberulent, hardly 

 scabrous: stems low: heads mostly 3 lines long: thin bracts of the involucre commonly 

 acutish. S. mollis, Eothr. in Wheeler Rep. vi. 146. Mountains of S. Utah, Ward, and of 

 New Mexico & Arizona, Bigdow, Rol.krocl-. (Heads, &c., nearly of S. velutina, DC., a Mexi- 

 can species, which approaches this and the preceding ambiguous forms of S. Canadensis.) 



