Aster. COMPOSITiE. 165 



128? A. frondosus (Nutt. under Tripoliiim) : stem much branched; 

 Jeaves linear, entire, clasping, rather obtuse, heads fasligiate ; scales of the 

 involucre, loose and leafy, rather obtuse ; rays numerous, very small and 

 slender ; achenia nearly smooth, about 4-striale. Nutt. — Tripolium (Astro- 

 polium) frondosum, Nutt. ! in trans. Amer. phil. soc. {n. ser.) 7. p. 296. 



" Muddy ponds in the Rocky Mountains, near Lewis River of the 

 Shoshonee; rare: growing partly in the water, and mud. Apparently 

 biennial, with very inconspicuous flowers, and an entirely leafy nearly equal 

 involucrum of about 2 series of leaflets." Nutt. — Our specimens are very 

 imperfect, and the flowers not fully developed. 



129 ? A. spinosus (Benth.) : glabrous, much branched ; the branches 

 rush-like, furnished with minute scattered scale-like leaves, which are 

 somewhat caducous, often bearing spines in their axils ; heads solitary ter- 

 minating the branches, or somewhat racemose ; scales of the involucre im- 

 bricatedin 2-3 series, unequal, shorter than the disk, lanceolate, with mem- 

 branaceous margins ; rays short ; achenia very glabrous. — Benth. ! pi. 

 Hartio. (no. Ue.) p. 20. 



Texas, Drummond ! — A singular, apparently leafless species ; its long 

 branches terminated by rather small heads ; the subulate leaves 1 to 2 or 3 

 lines long; those of the lower part of the stem unknown. Exterior scales of 

 the involucre ovate-lanceolate ; the innermost longer, narrowly lanceolate, 

 with broader membranaceous margins. Rays numerous in a single series, 

 nearly twice the length of the pappus ; the ligules linear-oblong. Appen- 

 dages of the style (of the disk-flowers) short and thick, somewhat conical. 

 Pappus nearly equal, in a single series, capillary. Achenia linear-oblong, 

 slightly compressed, obscurely nerved. — The Texan specimens exhibit fewer 

 short spines, or abortive branchlets, than the Mexican, and some are alto- 

 gether destitute of them ; but we find no other ditference. 



*** The following species reached us too late for insertion in the sections to 

 which they belong. 



§ 2. Calliastrum, p>- 106. 



130. A. mirabilis: pubescent-scabrous; stem simple, sparingly corjniibose- 

 paniculate at the summit ; leaves ovate, strigose-scabrous above ; the lowest 

 (and radical?) abruptly narrowed into a petiole ; the others sessile, rather 

 acute ; those of the branches small, roundish ; involucre hemispherical, 

 shorter than the disk ; the scales regularly imbricated in 4-5 unequal series, 

 oblong-linear, with conspicuous squarrose-recurved obtuse herbaceous tips ; 

 rays (about 20) elongated ; achenia linear, scarcely compressed, nearly gla- 

 brous (minutely hairy under a lens when young), striate. 



Columbia, South Carolina (probably in dry soil), Professor Gibhes! Sept. 

 — Stem 1-2 feet or more in height, apparently simple, clothed with a close 

 and rather rough pubescence, which is scarcely if at all viscid, sparingly 

 branched towards the summit ; the branches bearing solitary or 2-3 scattered 

 heads, or sometimes 4 or 5 heads, somewhat crowded at the summit. Leaves 

 ihickish when old, rather strongly pinnately veined and more or less reticu- 

 lated, all serrate from the base to the apex with close and short mucronale 

 teeth ; the lower surface less scabrous and more pubescent tlian the upj:)er, 

 often somewhat hoary ; the cauline 1-3 inches long, uniformly ovate, but 

 the upper gradually diminishing in size, all but the lowermost closely sessile, 

 not clasping; those of the branches similar but much smaller, obtuse, 

 and nearly round ; the lowest cauline abruptly narrowed into a jnargined 

 petiole, or rarely almost cordate ; the jiroper radical leaves wanting. Heads 

 nearly as large as in A. spectabilis, subglobose. Involucre minutely pubes- 

 cent : the scales between chartaceous and coriaceous in texture, whitish, 



