1220 CAKDUACEAE 



both bracts and pedicels canescent or even white with loose webby hair : rays dark violet ; * 

 bract-tips diamond-form to deltoid. 



In dry soil, Kansas to Mississippi and Texas. Summer and fall. 



50. Aster patens Ait. Stem 3-9 dm. tall, slender, rough, divergently branched : 

 leaf-blades sessile, ovate-oblong or oval, rough-pubescent, thick and somewhat rigid, 

 strongly auriculate-clasping at the broad base, entire, acute, or the lower ones obtuse, 

 2.5-7.5 cm. long, those of the branches much smaller and bract-like, their margins rough- 

 ciliate : heads 25 mm. broad or more, solitary at the ends of the branches : involucres 

 campanulate ; bracts linear-oblong, finely pubescent or scabrous, often somewhat glandu- 

 lar, imbricated, their green acute tips spreading : ray-flowers 20-30 • ligules purplish- 

 blue or deep violet, 8-12 mm. long : pappus tawny : achenes pubescent. 



In dry open places, Massachusetts to Minnesota, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Summer and fall. 



51. Aster tenuicaiilis (C. Mohr) Burgess. Resembles A. patens; but its branches 

 long and slender, fiagelliform and diffuse when well developed : leaves and heads smaller : 

 pedicels longer, often 1-4 cm. : bracts and their tips much narrower, narrowly linear ; 

 bractlets mucronate-acute, catenate or forming a chain-like series along the pedicels,, op- 

 pressed or slightly spreading. \_A. patens var. gracilis Hook. A. patens tenuicaulis C 

 Mohr.l 



In dry soil, Georgia to Texas and Oklahoma. Summer and fall. 



52. Aster subs6ssilis Burgess. Stem strong, erect, with several or many long 

 parallel subhorizontal divaricate branches : leaves as in A. patens, but with obovate radi- 

 cals and some obovate middle caulines ; and many heads short-pedicelled, sessile and 

 secund ; axile leaves very short and broad, pale ; bracteals oval-oblong to lanceolate : 

 heads nearly as in A. jxitevs, with broad and nearly sessile base : peduncles usually only 0.5 

 cm. long : bracts very broad, short, bluntly rounded, puberulent, not ciliate nor glandu- 

 lar. Differs from A. patens especially in its bracts and its secund subsessile heads. 



On plains or prairies, Missouri and Arkansas : also in Alabama. Fall. 



53. Aster pblogifolius Muhl. Similar to A. patens in habit, but when well devel- 

 oped much taller, more slender and soft : leaves larger ; blades lanceolate to oblong- 

 lanceolate, entire, thin or membranous, acuminate at the apex, strongly auriculate, clasping 

 at the base, roughish above, pubescent beneath, usually narrowed below the middle, some- 

 times 15 cm. long : heads usually numerous, 3-5 cm. broad, panicled or somewhat race- 

 mose on the branches : involucre campanulate ; bracts lanceolate, glabrate, rather loose, 

 with herbaceous tips : ray-flowers numerous ; ligules purple-blue. Resembles A. patens 

 Ait. ; but softer and taller ; heads larger ; inflorescence narrow ; leaves elongated. 



In woods and thickets, New York to Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee. Later summer and fall. 



54. Aster oblongifolius Xutt. Stem much branched, 3-7 dm. high, hirsute-pubes- 

 cent, smooth with age, the branches divaricate or ascending ; leaves numerous, often 

 crowded ; blades oblong or oblong-lanceolate, sessile by a broad or slightly clasping base, 

 usually rigid, entire or mucronulate at the apex, rough or hispidulous on both sides, 

 rough margined, those of the stem 3-5 cm. long, 4-8 mm. wide, those of the branches 

 gradually smaller : heads corymbose, nearly 25 mm. broad : involucre hemispheric ; bracts 

 much imbricated, glandular-aromatic, linear or linear-oblong, the acute green tips 

 spreading : ray-flowers 20-30 ; ligules violet-purple, rarely rose-pink, 6-10 mm. long : 

 pappus becoming light brown : achenes canescent. 



On prairies and bluffs, Pennsylvania to Minnesota, Nebraska, Virginia, Tennessee, and Texas. 

 Summer and fall. 



55. Aster Kumleinii Fries. Plant resembling J. oblongifolius, but low, chiefly 3 dm. 

 high, with fastigiate bushy top of numerous subcorymbose branches, paler, harsher and 

 more rigid, smaller in all its parts, and much less pubescent : bracts looser and continued 

 into investing bractlets below. Stem brown, brittle, terete : leaves hispidulous ; blades 

 oblong to linear, 4 cm. long, or less, obtuse or rounded at apex : inflorescence decompound : 

 heads 2 cm. broad or less : rays violet-blue ; outer bracts recurvate, Avith much green tissue, 

 their green tips linear-spatulate ; bracteals uniform, decurved, linear ; glands very short- 

 stalked ; strigose pubescence little developed, all surfaces short-scabrous or hirtellous, or 

 the stem linallv glabrate. 



In dry exposed places, Wisconsin to Alabama, Colorado and Texas. Summer and fall. 



56. Aster Novae-Angliae L. Stem stout, 6-25 dm. high, hispid-pubescent, corym- 

 bosely branched above, very leafy : leaf-blades oblong-lanceolate, entire, acute, pubescent, 

 5-12 cm. long, 12-25 mm. wide, each clasping by an auriculate base : heads numerous, 

 3-5 cm. broad, clustered at the ends of the branches : involucre hemispheric ; bracts linear- 

 subulate, somewhat unequal, green, spreading, pubescent and more or less glandular-viscid : 



