Aster. COMPOSITE. 187 



Michx. Fl. ii. 115, not of L., &c. A. miser, Xutt. Gen. ii. 158 (a cinereous-pubescent variety 

 or state, of snn-burnt situations, short-leaved and glomerate-clustered, partly the var. r//nit'- 

 rellus, Torr. & Gray, under this name) ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 129 ; not L. (pi. Dill.), nor Ait. 

 A. parviflorus, Darliugt. Fl. Cest. 446, not Nees. Solidago later iflora, L. Spec. ii. 879. 

 Dry or barely moist ground, Canada to Texas and west to Missouri. A. dijfusus is, on the 

 whole, the best of three names of same date. 



Var. horizontalis. A robust, very bushy-branched and exceedingly floriferous 

 cultivated form ; the leaves thickish, those of the widely spreading flowering branches small 

 and short, entire : white rays more conspicuous. A. horizontalis, Desf. Cat. ed. 3, 402. A. 

 recurvatus, Willd. Spec. iii. 2047. A plant of the gardens, not exactly matched by indige- 

 nous specimens, but evidently of this species. 



Var. thyrsoideus. From slightly to distinctly cinereous-pubescent: leaves from 

 ovate-oblong to lanceolate : flowering branches ascending, rather rigid, either short or some- 

 what elongated: heads thyrsoid-pauiculate or spicate-glomerate, less secund. Part of A. 

 miser, var. glomerellus, Torr. & Gray, 1. c. New York to Illinois and Upper Canada. West- 

 ern forms connect with the next species. 



Var. hirsuticaulis (*-l. Itirxiifirmi/is, Lindl. in DC. Prodr. v. 242, and A. miser, var. 

 hirsuticaulis, Torr. & Gray, Fl. 1. c.), founded only on specimens from Albany, N. Y., Beck, 

 in herb. Torr. & Lindl., is a singular form, probably growing in much shade, with long and 

 narrow leaves, as of A. rimim </.s, the midrib of these beneath and the stem very hirsute. 

 Other forms in Torr. & Gray, FL, are ambiguous between this and A. ri/nineus. 



Var. bifrons. A luxuriant form, growing in shady and moist grounds, with large 

 and thin elongated-lanceolate leaves, and spreading branches with loosely disposed and mostly 

 larger heads: a transition to the following section and to A. pnnii-ulutiix, Lam. A. bifrons, 

 Lindl. in DC. Prodr. v. 243. Shady banks of Kentucky Eiver (Short) to Illinois. 



+ -j -f H 1 Involucre various, in some imbricated and with short close tips, as in the last 



preceding section, in others more loose and herbaceous : heads when numerous either thyrsoid- 

 or open-paniculate on erect or ascending branches. Vulyares. 



H- Cauline leaves sessile, but neither with cordate or aimculate base (except in forms of A. Novi- 

 Belijii and A. foliaceus), nor with abrupt winged-petiole-like lower portion. 



= Atlantic United States species, with branching stems or several or mnny heads when well de- 

 veloped, none alpine or subalpine: herbage disposed to be glabrous, but branches often pubes- 

 cent in lines. 



a. Involucre of the small or middle-sized heads close and erect ; its bracts narrow, imbricated in 

 successive lengths, the small green tips not dilated nor spreading. Species seemingly confluent 

 in a series. 



A. Tradescanti, L., partly. Stem slender, 2 to 4 feet high, with numerous erect or ascend- 

 ing branches and branchlets : leaves lanceolate or linear, slightly serrate or entire, tliinuish : 

 small heads numerous, corymbosely or somewhat racemosely paniculate, only two or three 

 lines high : bracts of the involucre linear, acutish, partly green at tip and down the back : 

 rays white, or sometimes tinged with lilac, only about 2 lines long. Spec. ii. .876 (as to 

 Hort. Cliff, in part, if herb. Cliff, is of any authority, and as to syu. A. Vinjlnianus jmn-is 

 floribus Tradescanti, Moris. Hist. iii. 121, whence the name) ; Ait. Kew. iii. 204 (var. fl. albis) ; 

 Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. xvii. 166; not of L. Hort. Ups. & herb., only in small part of Torr. 

 & Gray, Fl. A. miser, Ait. Kew. iii. 205, not L. A. franilis, Willd. Spec, iii. 2051 ; not 

 A. Tra descanti frayilis, Torr. & Gray. A. leucanthemus-, Desf . Cat. 102; Poir. Suppl. i. 500. 

 A. artemisiceflorus, Poir. 1. c., ex char. A. parviflorus, Nees, Ast. 99, a rather strict form. 

 A. tenuifoUus, var., in part, Torr. & Gray, 1. c. 132, not of others. Open grounds, Canada 

 to Virginia, Elinois, and Saskatchewan. Cult, from earliest days in European gardens. 

 Some forms, both cult, and wild, show affinity to A. diimosus, riminet/s, and dij/'iisns; others 

 differ from the next following species only in the smaller heads and flowers. 



A. paniculatus, LAM. Stem 2 to 8 feet high, freely and paniculately branched : leaves 

 from elongated oblong to narrowly lanceolate, mostly attenuate-acuminate, sharply serrate 

 or denticulate, or upper entire, thin : heads about a third of an inch high, in loose and open 

 mostly leafy panicles : bracts of the involucre narrowly linear, with tapering acute or acumi- 

 nate green tips (or outermost wholly green on back) : rays 3 or 4 lines long, white varying 

 to purplish or pale violet (in drying often turning blue). Lam. Diet. i. 306 (1783, the char, 

 not good for the involucre, but it is the A. serotinus procerior, &c., Tourn., cited by Lam.) ; 



