130 COMPOSITE. Aster. 



shorter, the innermost about the length of the disk), acute or rather obtuse ; 

 rays short, and often inconspicuous. — Linn. spec. 2. p. 887 ? (excl. syn. 

 Dill. Elth. t. 35, /. 39.)* A. miser, divergens, diiFusus, & pendulus. Ait. 

 Ken: {ed. 1) 3. p. 205, and of most, if not all, succeeding authors. 



a. miserrimus : stem and elliptical-lanceolate or cuneiform-lanceolate leaves 

 more or less scabrous or ^^^ubescent; the flowering branches sliort, seldom 

 divergent; scales of the involucre narrowly linear or linear-lanceolate, acute. 

 — A. miser (excl. y.), Nees! Ast. p. 111. A. miser, var. Nutt. ! herb. A. 

 myrtifolius, IVilld. envm. stippl. tide, Nees. — The following are the chief 

 variations: 1. Stem somewhat simple, puberulent-scabrous, as well as the 

 leaves ; heads glomerate or somewhat s[)icate on short raceraed branchlets, 

 which are often shorter, or sometimes longer than the leaves -, in the latter 

 case usually leafy. — 2. Scabrous-puberulenf, the flowering branches usually 

 longer than the upper cauline leaves, bearing few or solitary heads. (A. 

 miser, Nees I in herb. Hook, ex dono Lindl.) — 3. Leaves scabrous above, * 

 the lower surface and the stem or branches softly cinereous-pubescent ; heads 

 somewhat secund and spicate on the (abbreviated or someiimes elongated) 

 ascending flowering branchlets. (A. miser, var. Nees. ! in herb. Am. Sf 

 Hook. Jacksonville, Louisiana, Drimunond!) 



/?. glomerellus : mostly cinereous-pubescent or scabrous ; leaves oblong- 

 lanceolate, elliptical-lanceolate, or cuneiform-oblong, scabrous above, mostly 

 short ; heads glomerate-spicate at the summit of the stem or on divergent 

 branches ; scales of the involucre linear, obtusish or abruptly acute. — 

 Varies: 1. Stem low (6-18 inches high), rigid, simple or with ascending 

 branches ; heads glomerate in short spikes at the summit of the stem or 

 branches, and in the axils of the upper leaves, or on short spreading flower- 

 ing branchlets; scales of the involucre rather broadly or spatulate-hnear ; 

 the innermost sometimes narrower and more acute. (A. miser, Nvtt. ! gen. 

 2. p. 158; Darlingt.! fl.. Cest. p. 466.)— 2. Plant taller, less pubescent; 

 heads (rather smaller) more loosely spicate along the slender or virgate diva- 

 ricate branches; or the lower flowering branches somewhat compound. (A. 

 diffusus, Muhl. ! in herb. Ell. ; Nees, Ast. (partly,) and in herb. Arn. S^- 

 Hook..' St. Louis, Drummond !) 



y. diffusus : stem pubescent, or glabrous below, much branched ; leaves 

 nearly glabrous (mostly slightly scabrous above, sometimes sparsely pubes- 

 cent beneath), lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, or the lowermost often oblong- 

 oval; branches diffuse, mostly elongated, divergent, recurved-spreading or 

 divaricate ; heads loosely or densely racemose ; scales of the involucre 

 linear, acute or acutish. — A. diffusus (partly?), divergens, pendulus, & par- 

 viflorus, Nees, Ast. I. c. ; DC. I. c. A. divergens, Nntt. ! I. c. A. paryi- 

 florus, Darlingt. ! fi. Cest. p. 466. A. secundiflorus, & A. horizontalis, 

 Desf. cat. hort. Par. — Varies in the disposition and length of the branches, 

 in the number (and slightly in the size) of the heads, the size and breadth of 

 the leaves, &c. : but the different forms are so connected that they are not 

 clearly distinguishable into definite subvarieties. The cauline leaves vary 

 from elongated lanceolate (3-5 inches, or in some specimens from Kentucky 

 and Wisconsin even 6 inches long,) or the lowermost even broadly oval, to 

 cuneiform-lanceolate, oval-lanceolate (2-3 inches long) ; the more or less 



* There are, if we mistake not, no specimens of A. miser in the Linnoean her- 

 barium ; and the description of Linnaeus appears to have been drawn chiefly (but 

 not entirely) from tlie 'Aster ericoides, Meliloti agranaj urabone,' /><//. Elth. (A. 

 foliolosus. Ait. q. v.) It is evident, however, from the phrase : " Radius albus, brevis- 

 simus et miser," that Linna;us had some other than the Dillcnian plant in view, 

 probably some form of the polymoi-jDhous species to which the name of A. miser 

 has generally been applied by succeeding botanists; but this is by no means 

 cert2iin. 



