198 COMPOSITE. SoLiDAGO. 



spikes about 2 inches long. Leaves membranaceous ; the lowest nearly 4 

 inches long, including the winged petiole ; the uppermost very small. Heads 

 smaller than in S. bicolor, but otherwise very similar, ab6ut 15-flowered. 

 Achenia minutely pubescent-scabrous under a lens. 



t + Clusters or glomerate racemes mostly short and axillary. 



5. S. 2mhens (M. A. Curtis I mss.) : stem virgate, nearly terete, pubescent, 

 tomentose-villous above ; leaves (membranaceous) oval-lanceolate, acumi- 

 nate at each end, sessile, coarsely and unequally serrate-toothed, nearly gla- 

 brous above, pubescent especially on the veins and midrib beneath ; heads in 

 small axillary clusters ; the lower remote, the upper approximate and forming 

 a continuous and contracted virgate raceme ; involucre as well as the very 

 short peduncles villous-tomentose ; the scales linear, rather obtuse, unequal; 

 rays and disk-flowers each 4-7 ; achenia canescent. 



Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mr. Curtis! Aug.-" 

 Sept. — Stem slender, apparently simple and 2-3 feet high ; the flowering 

 portion often a foot long, with 7 or 8 of the lower roundish clusters much 

 shorter than the leaves ; the others similar but crowded (the subtending leaves 

 reduced to bracts), forming a continuous spicate raceme 3-5 inches long. 

 Leaves 3-5 inches in length, an inch or more in breadth, the upper surface 

 sprinkled with minute appressed hairs; the upper successively reduced in 

 size, less pointed but more tapering to the base, less serrate, more hairy above 

 and pubescent beneath. Heads about as large as in S. cassia; the rays rather 

 small. 



6. S. BucMeyi : stem and lower surface of the oblong (acute at each end) 

 subsessile leaves villous-pubescent ; heads in small (loose) axillary clusters 

 much shorter than the leaves ; peduncles villous ; scales of the involucre 

 nearly glabrous, rather acute ; the exterior ovate-lanceolate, short ; the inner- 

 most linear; rays 4-6, the disk -flowers 9-12; achenia short and broad, 

 (compressed?) glabrous. 



Interior of Alabama, Mr. S. B. Buckley ! Oct. — Stem (simple or branch- 

 ed ?) apparently 2 feet or more in height, almost villous with soft hairs, leafy 

 to the summit. Leaves about 3 inches long, and an inch to an inch and a 

 half in breadth, nearly equal, membranaceous, copiously feather-veined, the 

 veins and veinlets of the lower surface villous-pubescent, unequally and not 

 very coarsely serrate with broad teeth, or the uppermost entire ; the upper 

 surface nearly glabrous. Heads larger than in S. latifolia ; the lowermost 

 nearly solitary on very short peduncles, the upper 5-8 together in short ra- 

 cemes or clusters. Involucre shorter than the disk ; the outermost scales 

 onljr pubescent. Rays rather small. Achenia perfectly glabrous, apparently 

 compressed ! — The only specimen we possess is somewhat imperfect. 



7. S. latifolia (Linn.) : stem angled, often flexuous, glabrous : leaves 

 broadly ovate or oval, very strongly and sharply serrate-toothed, conspicu- 

 ously acuminate at both ends, or somewhat petioled, mostly hairy on the 

 veins beneath ; heads in short axillary clusters or oblong racemes, and race- 

 mose or somewhat paniculate at the summit of the stem ; peduncles pubes- 

 cent ; exterior scales of the glabrous involucre very short; the interior oblong- 

 linear or slightly spatulate, obtuse ; rays 3-4, large ; the disk-flowers 6 or 7 ; 

 achenia silky-pubescent. — Linn. ! s])ec. 2. p. 879 ; Smith, in Rees, cycl. no. 

 49; Muhl.! cat. i^. 79; Torr. ! compend. p. 304. S. flexicaulis, {Linn, 

 spec, ex syn. Pluk. &• Herm., not of herb.) Ait. ! Kew. {ed. 1) 3. p. 217 ; 

 Michx.! fl. 2. p. 118 (a.) ; Ell. ! sk. 2. p. 38G ; DC. ! prodr. 5. p. 335. 

 .S. flexicaulis \i. latifolia, Willd. spec. 3. p. 2064 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 542 ; 

 Hook. ! fl. Bor.-Am. 2, p. 5 ; Darlingt. ! fl. Cest. p. 460. S. macrophylla, 

 Bigel.fl. Bost. ed. 2. p. 305. Virga-Aurea Canadensis, &c. Herm. parad. 



