74 COMPOSITjE. Liatris. 



sessile or nearly so, mostly crowded, about half an inch in length : lower 

 bracts longer, the upper much shorter than the heads. Flowers bright pur- 

 ple. Achenia about the length of the pappus. — The number of flowers in 

 the head is variable. (Mr. G. Watson has discovered, near Philadelphia, 

 a state of this plant with pale pink, or sometimes pure white flowers.) — But- 

 tcm- Snake-root. 



12. L. pycnostachya : hirsute or nearly glabrous ; stem stout, strict, very 

 leafy; leaves strict, rigid, closely sessile, and partly clasping at the base; 

 the radical and lower ones elongated, lanceolate, obtuse, 5-7-nerved; the up- 

 per short and much crowded, narrowly linear, acute; spike elongated, thick 

 and dense, somewhat leafy below; the heads closely sessile, about 5-flow- 

 ered ; involucre cylindrical; the scales (14-16) oblong or lanceolate, usually 

 acute, with scarious and colored margins, scarcely punctate, rigid, appressed, 

 squarrose at the summit; achenia pubescent; pappus densely barbellate. — 

 Michx.! fl. 2. p. 91; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 507 (excl. syn. Dill. S^- Walt.?);. 

 DC. I. c. 



a. stem densely hirsute; leaves more or less hairy; scales of the involucre 

 strongly ciliale, often glandular. 



13. stem, leaves, and involucre nearly glabrous. — L. brachystachya, Nutt. ! 

 in jour. acad. Philad. 7. p. 72. 



Prairies of Illinois! Missouri! Arkansas! Louisiana! & Texas! (not extend- 

 ing eastward beyond the Alleghany Mountains.) Aug.-Oct. — Stem 3-5 feet 

 high, striate, stout. Spike very dense, cylindrical, and 12-18 inches long, or 

 often short and somewhat clavate, an inch or more in diameter when fully 

 developed ; sometimes (in starved specimens of both varieties) slender and 

 looser. Heads equalling or exceeding those of L. spicata in length, but 

 narrower. — .\ well-marked species, resembling some forms of L. spicata, but 

 readily distinguished by its squarrose involucre. The upper leaves are 

 usually very short, bract-like, subulate, and somewhat appressed. 



13. L. pilosa (Wilid.) : more or less pubescent with long scattered hairs; 

 stem stout; leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, elongated, hairy; heads in a 

 loose simple raceme, 10-15-flowered ; scales of the turbinate or campanulate 

 involucre glabrous, not punctate, with slight scarious margins ; the exterior 

 narrowly oblong, short, very obtuse; the innermost linear; achenia pub- 

 escent, nearly as long as the densely barbellate (almost plumose) pappus.^ 

 WilLd. spec. 3. p. 1636 ; scarcely of any succeeding author. Serratula pilosa, 

 Ait.! Keiv. {ed. \) 3. p. 138. 



" North America : introduced [into the Kew garden] 1783, by Mr. Wm. 

 Young." Hort. Keio.l.c. On Seven-mile Mountain (in the Alleghanies), 

 Virginia, Mr. Read ! (in hcrh. Acad. Philad.) — Plant nearly as siout as L. 

 scariosa. Heads somewhat scattered, 8-10 lines long, on pedicels which 

 vary in length from 1-3 inches, or are sometimes shorter than the head. 

 Interior scales of the involucre narrow, rather acute, about half an inch long. 

 Achenia and pappus nearly eipial in size to L. scariosa. — Our description is 

 drawn from our own memoranda upon an authentic specimen in the Banks- 

 ian herbarium, and from fuller notes kindly communicated by Mr. Bennett; 

 also from a jjlant collected in the mountains of Virginia by Mr. Read, 

 the only native specimen we have met with, which accords so well with the 

 original plant as to leave no reasonable doubt of their identity. It has long 

 since disappeared from the English gardens; and being probably a very rare 

 or local species, the name and insufficient character of the Horius Kewensis 

 have been generally assigned to a very different plant. The character of 

 Pursh's L. pilosa is not inapplicable to the true species ; but the habitat he 

 gives, the size of the heads, &c. do not accord. That of De CandoUe is 

 chiefly derived from the detailed description of Elliott, which is entirely 

 drawn from a specimen of the New Jersey plant, as is proved by his her- 



