108 COMPOSITE. Aster. 



base; involucre hcmispherical-campaniilate, about the Icncth of the disk; 

 the scales numerous, unetiuai, alanduiar-puberulent, lanceolate, with acute 

 herbaceous squarrose-spreading tips; rays numerous; achenia linear-oblong, 

 sWky-puhescent.—Lindl. ! in^Hook. fl." Bor.-Am. 2. p. 7, S^- in DC. prodr. 

 5. p. 230. 



Carlton House, on the Saskatchawan River (about lat. 53°), to the Rocky 

 Mountains, Drummond ! — A stout showy species, with ample thickish veiny 

 leaves (4-6 t^Tches long and 1-2 wide, the teeth triangular and mucronate or 

 subulate-pointed), and heads fully as large as those of A. sjiectabilis, to 

 ■which it bears considerable resemblance. Involucre and peduncles viscid 

 with a minute glandular pubescence. Rays large, blue. Appendages of the 

 style triangular-lanceolate. Bristles of the pappus slightly rigid, similar, 

 and scarcely, if at all thickened upwards. 



7. A. spcctabilis (Ait.) : stem strict, puberulent-scabrous, glandular-pubes- . 

 cent and corymbose at the summit; leaves oblong-lanceolate, scabrous, 

 sessile, entire ; the lower ones oblong, remotely appressed-serrale, tapering 

 into a short margined petiole; branches of the corymb usually short and 

 rigid, bearing 1-3 heads ; involucre hemispherical-campanulaie, as long as 

 the disk ; the scales very numerous, somewhat etpial in length, linear-oblong 

 and slightly spatulate, glandular-puberuleni, somewhat ciliate, with conspi- 

 cuous herbaceous srpiarrose spreading (rather obtuse) tips; rays numerous 

 (20 or more); achenia linear, slightly pubescent. — Ait. Knc. (ed. 1) 3. p. 

 209; Pursh, Jl. 1. p. 554; Nuit. .' gen. 2. p. 157; ISees, Ast. p. 42; 

 Lindl. ! bot. reg. t. 1527 ; JDC. ! prodr. 5. p. 230. A. grandiflorus, Walt. 

 Car. p. 209. A. elegans, Willd. spec. 3. p. 2042, in part, fide Nees. A. 

 speciosus, Hornem. hort. Hafn. 2. p. 816.'' fide DC. 



j3. flowering branches, or ])eduncles, few and slender, mostly simple, pilose 

 ■with slender hairs as well as glandular-pubescent ; leaves lanceolate, entire 

 or scarcely serrate. 



y. branches of the corymb few and mostly simple; leaves obovate-oblong, 

 often nearly all serrate. — A. spectabilis /i. bellidifolius, J\'utt. I. c. ? A. 

 surculosus? EIL! sk. 2. p. 354. 



Dry sandy soil and pine barrens, Massachusetts (New Bedford, Mr. T. A. 

 Green!) and New Jersey ! to Florida! and Kentucky! Sept.-Nov. — Rhi- 

 zoma slender, creeping. Stem 1—2 feet high. Leaves 2—4 inches long (the 

 upi)er ones smaller), half an inch to an inch in width, of a firm texture, 

 acute or obtuse, mucronulate, sometimes obscurely 3-nerved. Branches of 

 the coryinb or peduncles with a few small leaves or bracts (the up])ennost 

 approximate to the head), usually short and rigid. Heads showy (larger 

 than in A. Amellus); the scales of the involucre imbricated in several series; 

 the exterior loose, clothed more or less with a glandular-scabrous pubescence 

 similar to that of the branches. Rays ver}' long, lanceolate, blue or violet. 

 Appendages of tlie style lanceolate-subulate. — We have met with no au- 

 thentic specimen of Mr. Nuttall's var. bellidifolius. Perhaps lie had a 

 form of the closely allied A. gracilis in view ; since the latter is common 

 in the pine barrens of New Jersey, while he only mentions it as a Western 

 plant. 



8. A. gracilis (Nutt.) : stems several from the same often surculose cau- 

 dex, slender, slightly pubescent, corymbose at the summit ; leaves somewhat 

 scabrous, remotely and obscurely crenulate-serrate ; the radical ones oblong or 

 spatulate, on slender naked petioles; the cauline oblanceolaie or narrowly 

 oblong, often narrowed at the base, slightly clasping ; heads several, in a 

 spreading corymb; involucre obconical, as long as the disk; the scarcely 

 pubescent scales imbricated in several series, whitish and coriacenus, with 

 herbaceous (obtuse or slightly pointed) spreading tips ; the exterior succes- 



