136 COMPOSITE. Aster. 



plant (the ligule as long as the involucre) ; the disk-flowers often changing to 

 purple. Achenia minutely pubescent, or glabrous when old. — We should 

 have restored the older name of A. salicifolius, were we at all confident that 

 it belongs to this species : as this is doubtful, we have followed Nees and 

 De CandoUe. Pursh's plant is said to grow from New York to Virginia. 



56. A. elodes : very smooth and glabrous; stem mostly simple, corym- 

 bose or rarely somewhat racemose-paniculate at the summit ; leaves linear- 

 lanceolate, fleshy, acute or acuminate at each end, entire or sparingly ap- 

 pressed-serrulate, shining, reticulate-veined, the upper surface often minutely 

 scabrous towards the apex and margins; the uppermost partly clasping by a 

 more or less narrowed base ; scales of the obovoid involucre rather closely . 

 imbricated in 3 or 4 unequal series, linear or spatulate-linear, mucronulate- 

 acute; the exterior often with recurved-spreading herbaceous tips; tte inner- 

 most erect, as long as the disk ; rays large ; achenia glabrous. — A. paludo- - 

 sus, Nutt. gen. 2. j;. 155? 



(3. leaves varying from narrowly lanceolate to broadly oval-lanceolate, or 

 the lowermost lanceolate-spatulate. 



Wet swamps, mostly in pine barrens, Massachusetts'! Long Island! New 

 Jersey ! and Pennsylvania ! to Virginia ! and North Carolina ! Aug.-Sept. 

 — Stem usually simple, and 1 to 2^ feet high, very smooth, mostly purple,; 

 the branches sometimes slightly pubescent. Leaves sparse, 3-5 inches long, 

 usually from 2-4 lines wide, but varying from half to three-fourths of an inch 

 wide (when they are commonly shorter in proportion and more or less acu- 

 minate at each end), mostly deep green and shining above, and conspicu- 

 ously reticulated with impressed veins, the margins often slightly and sharp- 

 ly serrate; those of the branches small, spreading. Heads large and showy, 

 few or rather numerous, in simple or somewhat compound corymbs, or some- 

 times paniculate racemes, solitary on the short and rather rigid, sparse and 

 diverging branchlets. Involucre glabrous or slightly pubescent ; the scales 

 of a rather firm texture ; the exterior herbaceous, except the pale broad mar- 

 gins near the base ; the others with oblong-lanceolate herbaceous tips, which 

 are sometimes erect, but usually more or less spreading or squarrose; the 

 innermost more membranaceous, often with purple tips. Rays large, nu- 

 merous, deep blue or violet; the disk flowers sometimes turning purplish. 

 Achenia minutely and slightly pubescent when veiy young, smooth and 

 glabrous when mature. — This is a common species in the swamps of the 

 pine barrens of New Jersey, and is found in similar situations as far north as 

 Massachusetts, and as far south at least as North Carolina. It varies much 

 in the form of the leaves, which are frequently as narrow as in A. paludosus, 

 but sometimes as wide as in A. Novi-Belgii. It begins to flower when only 

 8 or 12 inches high, and perhaps seldom attains more than two feet in 

 height; while the heads are proportionally large and showy. We are not 

 sure that it has been described by any author, either in Europe or this coun- 

 try; but it has probably been confounded whh A. praealtus or A. Novi- 

 Bel"-ii, to both of which "its different forms so closely approacii as to render 

 the diagnosis difficult. It can hardly be the A. brumalis of Nees (which is 

 described from spontaneous German specimens, supposed to be of American 

 origin), and is by no means a late-flowering species. 



67. A. Novi-Belgii (Linn.) : smooth and glabrous throughout (or the 

 branches sHg1:itly pubescent in lines), often somewhat glaucous ; stem stout; 

 the branches strict, racemose or somewhat corymbose ; leaves rigid or slightly 

 coriaceous, pale and very smooth, or sliglitly scabrous towards the margins 

 of the upper surface, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, somewhat serrate, taper- 

 ing to each end, acute ; the lower partly clasping by the narrowed base ; the 

 uppermost and those of the branches short, clasping by a broader base, often 

 entire ; involucre (hemispherical) about the length of the disk ; the scales 



