102 COMPOSITjE. Sericocarpus. 



herbaceous, often spreading or squarrose. Receptacle small, alveolate; the 

 alveoli toothed or lacerate-ciiiate. Rays oblong-linear ; the corolla of the 

 disk slightly expanded at the summit, 5-lobed; the lobes revolute, lanceolate, 

 acute. Appendages of the style (in the disk flowers) lanceolate-subulate, 

 minutely hispid, longer than the stigmatic portion. Achenia obpyramidal, 

 short, densely silky. Pappus simple, composed of rather numerous and 

 rigid unequal scabrous bristles, some of them thickened upwards. — Perennial 

 (North American) herbs, corymbose at the summit ; with alternate entire or 

 serrate sessile leaves. Heads in crowded corymbs, sometimes fascicled or 

 glomerate. Flowers of the ray white ; those of the disk pale yellow, rarely 

 changing to purplish. 



§ 1. Involucre about the length of the disk ; the exterior scales oblong or oval, 

 closely oppressed, with rigid herbaceous squarrose tips. 



1. S- conyzoides (Nees) : stem somewhat pubescent, slightly angled ; leaves 

 ciliate, glabrous beneath, veiny, obscurely 3-nerved ; the upper ones oblong 

 or lanceolate, often entire ; the lowermost spatulale-oval, coarsely serrate 

 towards the apex, tapering into a slender margined petiole; involucre some- 

 what turbinate; rays rather short; pappus ferruginous. — Nees, Ast. p. 150; 

 Darlingt..' fl. Cest. p. 470; DC.! prodr. 5. p. 161. Conyza asteroides, 

 Linn.! spec. 2, p. 8fil ; Walt.! Car. p. 204. Aster conyzoides, Willd. 

 spec. 3. p. 2043 ; Pursh ! Jl. 2. p. bbb ; Ell. ! sk. 2. p. 34^1 ; Nutt. ! gen. 

 2. p. 158 (& 13. plantaginifolius) ; Bigel. Jl. Bost. ed. 2. p. 311. A. Mari- 

 landicus (^-c. Pluk. mant.), Michx. ! jl. 2. p. 108. Solidago calycibus squar- 

 rosis, flosculis, &c., Gronov. ! fl. Virg. {ed. 1) p. 97. 



Dry woodlands, Massachusetts! to Florida! common. June-Aug. — 

 Plant 1-2 feet high. Leaves rather firm, 1-3 inches long. Heads some- 

 times solitary and pedicellate, but usually sessile in small clusters. Rays 

 much shorter than in the S. solidagineus, but always longer than the disk. 



2. S. solidagineus (Nees): glabrous; stem angled with decurrent lines: 

 leaves linear-oblanceolate, or linear, obtuse, tapering to the base, entire, with 

 serrulate-scabrous margins, indistinctly 3-nerved or slightly veiny, obscurely 

 punctate; heads (small) glomerate at the extremity of the fastigiate pedun- 

 cles ; involucre cvlindraceous, few-flowered ; rays elongated ; pappus white. 

 —Nees, Ast. p. 149 ; Hook. ! fl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 14 •' Darlingt. ! fl. Cest. 

 p. 470 ,- DC. ! I. c. Conyza linifolia, Linn. ! I. c. ; Walt. ! Car. p. 204. 

 Aster solidaginoides, Michx. in Witld. ! spec. 3. p. 2024 ; Pursh! fl. 2. p. 

 543 ; Nutt. ! I. c. ; Ell. I. c. A. solidagineus, Michx.! fl. 2. p. 108. A. 

 Americanus albns, &c., Pluk. aim. t. 79, /. 2. Galatella obtusifolia, Lehm. ! 

 ind. sem. horl. Hamb. 1837. 



Moist woodlands, Canada! and Northern States ! to Alabama! and Louis- 

 iana ! not very common. July-Sept. — Plant pale yellowish-green, about 

 2 feet high ; the stems slender, often several from the same root or woody 

 caudex. " Heads in small close clusters, few-flowered ; the scales of the in- 

 volucre glabrous, broad, white, with abrupt green tips. Rays much longer 

 than the disk. 



§ 2. Involucre mostly shorter than the disk ; the scales linear or narrowly- 

 oblong, less rigid and oppressed ; the tips greenish but scarcely squarrose. 



3. 5. torfifolius (Nees) : slightly canescent with a minute dense pubescence; 

 leaves short, spatulate-oblong or obovate, entire, mucronulate, 1-nerved, ob- 

 scurely punctate, spreading and usually vertical, both surfaces similar, heads 



