Aster. COMPOSIT^E. 125 



Jl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 13. A. ericoides dumosus, Dill. Eltli. t. 36,/. 40. A. 

 ericoides, Lam. diet. 1. p. 304 ,• Miclix: ! Jl. 2. p. 113. A. ericoides var. 

 multiflorus, Pcrs. s>/)i. 2. p. 443. A. ciliatus, Muhl. in IVilld. spec. 2. p. 

 2027. A. dumosus, DC! prodr. 5. p. 241 (as to spec, in herb., excl. char. 

 & syn.) ; Bigel. Jl. Bost. ed. 2. p. 311 ? (Varies, in the pubescence of the 

 stem, leaves, and involucre, from hirsute-canescent to almost glabrous ; in the 

 scales of the involucre from spatulate and obtuse to nearly linear and acute, 

 with the margins either strongly or slightly ciliate ; and in the racemes, 

 which are either dense and elongated, or more compound and thyrsoid ; or, 

 in sterile soil with feyv and scattered heads, sometimes even solitary and 

 terminating the branches.) 



/i. stricticaulis : stem strict, slender, narrowly racemose at the summit, or 

 slightly compound ; heads (small) somewhat scattered ; scales of the invo- 

 lucre mostly acute, more squarrose. — A. ericoides var., Lindl.! in herb. 

 Hook. A. ericoides, Hook.! Jl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 12 (chiefly), excl. syn. 



y. commutatus : heads larger, fewer, solitary on the branches, or racemose- 

 spicate. — A. ramulosus, (i. iucano-pilosus, Lindl. ! in Hook. Jl. Bor.-Am. 

 2. p. 13, S^- in DC. I. e. A. biennis, Torr. ! in ann. lye. New York, 2. p. 

 212 ; Lindl. ! in herb. Torr. ; not of Null. 



Dry fields and sandy or gravelly soil, Canada, Massachusetts ! and New 

 York ! to Georgia ; and throughout the Western States from Michigan ! to 

 the Upper Missouri ! /3. Saskatchawan, and towards the Rocky Mountains, 

 Drummond ! 7. Upper Missouri, J)r. James! Rocky Mountains, Drum- 

 mond! to Fort Franklin on the Mackenzie River, Richardson ! Aug.-Nov. 

 — Stem 1-2 feet high, much branched, very bushy ; the branches mostly 

 spreading, very leafy ; the small heads usually crowded in dense racemes. 

 Leaves 1-nerved, or somewhat 3-nerved by the confluence of the few veinlets, 

 obtuse or scarcely acute, but usually tipped with a mucronate bristle ; the cau- 

 line ones an inch to an inch and a half in length, 1-2 lines wide, often with tufts 

 of smaller ones fascicled in their axils; those of the branchlets much smaller, 

 crowded. Involucre 2 to 3 lines in diameter ; the scales rather rigid, whitish 

 and appressed, except the short spreading or recurved green tips, usually 

 mucronulate like the leaves ; the exterior shorter, more spatulate, and ob- 

 tuse ; the innermost linear, acute. Rays 10-15, broadly linear, white, or 

 slightly tinged with purple ; the disk-flowers about the same number, turn- 

 ing slightly purple. Achenia turgid, covered with a minute appressed pu- 

 bescence. — The var. /i. is a more attenuated ])lant, probably growing in 

 shady places, with the leaves also more slender; certainly not a variety of 

 A. ericoides. We have not seen the specimens from ' Red River, Douglas,'' 

 cited under that species in Hook. Jl. Bor.-Am., and know not whether they 

 should be referred here. — The var. 7. does not diflfer from the ordinary 

 A. multiflorus, except in the size and number of the heads, which are subject 

 to considerable variation. It was a specimen of this plant (erroneously 

 named A. biennis in herb. Torr.) that Dr. Lindley had in view, when he 

 remarked the close affinity of his A. ramulosus (i. with A. biennis Nutt. 

 (A. canescens, Pursh). We have also a specimen of A. multiflorus a., with 

 more scattered heads, collected in Michigan, which Dr. Lindley has labelled 

 ' A. canescens, Pursh^ : hence, probably, by some misapprehension, De 

 Candolle, on his authority, has given Massachusetts as a habitat of that spe- 

 cies ; which, however, is not found east of the Mississippi. 



40. A. falcatus (Lindl.) : somewhat cinereous-pubescent with appressed 

 hairs ; stem strict, slender, racemose or somewhat compound at the summit ; 

 the heads solitary or several on tlie erect contracted branches ; leaves linear, 

 entire, minutely appressed-pubescent ; the cauline partly clasping by a 

 broad or somewhat dilated base, often slightly falcate, the margins scabrous ; 

 scales of the hemispherical involucre linear, somewhat narrowed below, all 

 nearly equal in length, with spreading tips, mucronate-acute. — Lindl. ! in 



