Aster. COIVIPOSITiE. 131 



elone;ated primary branches are ascending or mostly divergent ; the heads 

 usually disposed along them on short pedicels, so as to form elongated leafy 

 racemes, sometimes forming small glomerules, sometimes very numerous 

 in spiciform divaricate racemes, or frequently more loose and somewhat 

 paniculate, &c. Some of the narrow-leaved forms, with the midrib pubes- 

 cent or hirsute beneath, pass into the following : 



6. liirsuticaulis : stem and midrib of the narrowly lanceolate elongated 

 leaves more or less hirsute ; heads racemose or spicate on short spreading or 

 divergent branchlets ; the uppermost in axillary glomerules much shorter 

 than the leaves ; scales of the involucre very narrowly linear, acute. — 

 Varies : 1. Leaves nearly entire, but some of them remotely and very 

 sharply serrate (4-5 inches long, attenuate-acuminate); the midrib very 

 hirsute' beneath ; heads few, in racemes much shorter than the leaves. (A. 

 hir.suticaulis, Lindl. ! in DC prodr. 5. p. 242, ex herb. Torr. Albany, 

 New York, Beck!) — 2. Stem sparingly hirsute-pubescent; the midrib of the 

 (mostly entire) leaves glabrous or nearly so ; heads few and glomerate on 

 branchlets usually much shorter than the leaves; the uppermost in small 

 sessile glomerules; otherwise as in no. 1. (Bellows Falls, Vermont, Mr. 

 Carey.') — 3. Leaves narrowly lanceolate, attenuate-acuminate (3-4 inches 

 long), mostly serrate with sharp scattered teeth ; the midrib beneath and 

 stem hirsute ; heads in short recurved-spreading somewhat leafy spikes; the 

 upper in sessile glomerules. (Wayne County, New York, Dr. Sariwell .') 



Old fields, borders of thickets &c., Canada ! and throughout the United 

 States ! common. Aug.-Oct. — A polymorphous species, 10 inches to 3 feet 

 high, erect or diffuse, often beginning to flower when nearly simple, but at 

 length usually much branched^ varying greatly according to soil, situation, 

 and age. Heads small, often very numerous; the involucre nearly glabrous, 

 the scales with short green tips. Rays white or tinged with purple, short, often 

 inconspicuous : the corolla of the disk often turning purple ; the limb deeply 

 5-parted. Achenia minutely pubescent. — This is the most polymorphous 

 species of the genus. It would be easy to arrange its most remarkable 

 forms as distinct species, but perfectly impossible to characterize them. 

 Even our var. diftusus might thus be divided into a dozen species of equal 

 consequence with those admitted by later authors. Its most striking states 

 are, 1. a Western plant with lower leaves six inches long, and the heads 

 also larger than usual : 2. a form which we have only received from N. 

 Carolina, with nearly simple stems and inflorescence, and small broadly- 

 oval, or cuneiform-oblong leaves: the latter is sometimes called A. Cornuti. 



49. A. Lamarckianus (Nees) : steiii pubescent in lines, racemose-decom- 

 pound, coarctate ; the branches paniculate-racemose ; leaves lanceolate, 

 acuminate, sessile, appressed-serrate, scabrous above ; those of the branch- 

 lets lanceolate-acuminate, sjjreading; scales of the involucre linear, rather 

 equal, loosely imbricated. Nces, Ast. p. 100; Lindl.! in Hook. fi. Bor.- 

 Am. 2. p. 11 ,• DC. prodr. 5. p. 241. A. paniculatus. Lam. diet. 1. p. 306 

 (not of Ait.), fide Nees. A. Tradescanti, Nees, sijnops. p. 28. A. par- 

 viflorus, Lindl. in Hook. fl. Bar.- Am. I. c. 1 



Canada, according to Lamarck, Nees. Saskatchawan, rdchardson ! 

 Drummond ! (v. sp. in herh. Hook.) — According to Nees, this species is 

 quite ditferent from any with which he is aciiuainied, except his A. divergens. 

 The plant from Saskatchawan appears nearly to agree with an immature spe- 

 cimen of the species cultivated in the Berlin botanic garden, under this name. 



t t Heads middle-sized. 



50. A. simplex (Willd.) : stem glabrous, racemose-decompound; the 

 branches somewhat corymbose at the summit; the branchlets contracted, 

 bearing few [middle-sized] heads; leaves lanceolate, acuminate, very smooth, 



