124 COMPOSITE. Aster. 



Wilid. spec. 3. p. 2026 (excl. syn.) ; Nutt. ! gen. 2. p. 155 ; Darlingt. ! fl. 

 Cest.p. 467. A. tenuifolius, & (3. ericoiAes, Muhl. ! cat. p. 77. A. dumosus, 

 " Hoffm. j^hytogr. bl 1. t. A,f. 2" ; Willd. enum. 2. p. 880, l<f herb., fide 

 Nees ; not of Linn. A. ramosissimus, A. leptophyllus? & A. subulatus 1 

 Hort. Par. fide DC. 



(i. villosus: stem and branches, and usually the leaves, villous-hirsute. — 

 K.ViWosu^Michx.! fl. 2. p. 113. A. pilosus, Willd.! spec. 2. p. 2025; 

 Nees. Ast. p. 109. A. glabellus, Lindl. ! in Hook, compan. to hot. mag. 1. 

 p. 97. 



y. platyphyllus : stem and mostly shorter branches densely villous ; 

 cauline leaves pubescent-hirsute, lanceolate ; the lower ones oblong- 

 spatulate ; those of the branchlets only subulate-linear. 



Barren soil, Canada and nearly throughout the United States ! (3. North 

 Carolina! and Ohio! to Missouri! y. N. CaroUna, Sclm-einitz! Mr. Curtis! 

 Indiana, Dr. Clapp ! Aug.-Oct.— Stem 1-3 feet high, often branched from 

 the base, bushy ; the slender spreading branches, and the erect secund 

 branchlets or peduncles, rigid. Leaves numerous, but not very crowded, 

 rather rigid ; the lower ones serrulate-ciliate, and often sparingly serrate, 

 2-4 inches long; the radical ones about the same length, oblanceolate ; the 

 primordial spatulate or obovate and much shorter; those of the upper 

 part of the stem and branches varying from linear to subulate, an inch or 

 less in length, acute, and pointed with a short bristle. Heads usually 

 scattered along the branches, but sometimes rather crowded, 3-4 lines in 

 diameter. Involucre rather shorter tlian the disk ; two or three of the ex- 

 terior scales similar to the subulate leaves of the branchlets, and like them 

 cuspidate with a short bristle, either rather short and appressed, when the 

 involucre appears slightly turbinate ; or almost as long as the innermost, 

 when it appears hemispherical ; the inner scales glabrous or slightly ciliate, 

 with rhomboid or triangular-lanceolate greenish tips, which are more or less 

 spreading ; the lower p'ortion white, except the midrib, rigid and appressed, 

 with membranaceous somewhat dilated margins. Rays 15-25, white or 

 pale bluish-purple ; the disk frequently turning reddish-purple. Achenia 

 with a dense minute pubescence, turgid. Pappus of about 24 nearly equal 

 serrulate-scabrous bristles, in a single series. — There is no difference between 

 A. ericoides and A. glabellus, Nees, except a slight and variable degree of 

 hairiness. Our var. /3. is only a still more hairy state of the same species, 

 with often wider leaves, which Nees (who examined an imperfect specimen 

 in the herbarium of Willdenow), suspected to be the same as his A. gla- 

 bellus. From this, we find a regular transition to our var. y., of which we 

 have specimens with such broad cauline leaves (often half an inch wide by 

 2 to 3 inches in length), that no botanist would venture to unite them with 

 A. ericoides without a very full suite of intermediate specimens. Perhaps 

 the scales of the involucre are rather more equal ; but we perceive no other 

 difference. 



t t Leaves crowded ; the upper not narrowed, but usually dilated or partly clasping 

 at the base : scales of the involucre spatulate, or narrowed below, mostly ciliate ; 

 the exterior with obtuse herbaceous tips. 



39. A. multiflorus (Ait.) : cinereous-pubescent or hairy ; stem diffusely 

 racemose-compound ; the heads very numerous and crowded, somewhat 

 unilateral ; leaves linear, entire, closely sessile, not tapering at the base, 

 with serrulate-scabrous or ciliate margins, spreading or at length recurved ; 

 scales of the campanulate involucre spatulate or hnear-spalulate, with spread- 

 ing or recurved tips; the exterior obtuse. — Ait. Keio. {cd. 1) 3. p. 203; 

 Willd. spec. 3. p. 2027, Sf enum. 2. p. 880 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 546; Ell. ! sk. 

 2. p. 349 ; ISecs. Ast. p. 114; Lindl. ! in DCprodr. 5. p .243, S^'in Hook. 



