SoLiDAGO. COMPOSITiE. 205 



popular name applied in Hortus Kewensis, " Willow-leaved Golden Rod," 

 is appropriate) ; the panicle narrow and perfectly strict (6 to 18 inches long, 

 and only 1-2 wide), entirely in fruit by the middle of September; the achenia 

 entirely glabrous, or rarely presenting a few minute scattered hairs, under a 

 lens. — A near approach to this species is sometimes observed in narrow- 

 leaved states of S. neglecta, with short racemes, at first scarcely if at all 

 spreading or secund. 



20. S. speciosa (Nutt.) : stein simple, stout, glabrous ; the summit, with 

 the peduncles and pedicels hirsute-pubescent ; leaves thickish, smooth and 

 glabrous, with densely scabrous-ciliolate margins; the lower oval or ovate, 

 narrowed into a margined petiole, somewhat serrate, the upj)er lanceolate or 

 oblong-lanceolate, entire; racemes numerous, erect, forming a pyramidal or 

 ihyrsiform (usually ample) panicle ; heads (pretty large) on short pedicels, 

 somewhat crowded or glomerate ; scales of the cylindrical nearly glabrous 

 involucre oblong, obtuse ; rays about 5, large ; achenia very glabrous. — 

 Nutt.f gen. 2. p. 160 (excl. syn. Pers.) ; Darlingt.! fi. Cest. p. 459. 

 S. sempervirens, Miclix.! fi. 2. p. 119, not of Linn. S. petiolaris, Muhl.J 

 cat. p. 79 ,• Bart. fi. Phil. 2. p. 121; not of Ait. 



ji. augustata: smaller, less pubescent at the summit; racemes short and 

 glomerate, forming a narrow and dense, interrupted or somewhat compound 

 spike.— S. erecta ? Ell. I sk. 2. p. 385 ; DC. j^rodr. 5. p. 340? 



}'. rigicliuscula : heads smaller ; panicle strict ; peduncles and summit of 

 the stem less pubescent; leaves nearly all entire and smaller, lanceolate or 

 oblong, more rigid. 



Borders of woods &c. (Canada, Michau.v) Massachusetts ! and Ohio ! to 

 Kentucky! and Florida! [3. New Jersey! North Carolina! South Caro- 

 lina! Kentucky! &:c. y. St. Louis, Missouri and Texas, Drummond! Dr. 

 Engelmann ! Louisiana, Dr. Leacenivorth! Prairies between the Missis- 

 sippi and Missouri Rivers, Mr. Nicollet ! Aug.-Oct. — Stem 2i to 5 or even 

 6 feet high, stout, erect, glabrous and often purple; the summit and the 

 branches of the inflorescence ])ubescent, in a greater or less degree, with short 

 and close jointed hairs, not unfrequently almost hirsute. Radical leaves 

 6 inches or more in length, and 2-4 wide, sharply serrate, y>etioled ; the 

 lower cauline ample, 4-6 inches long, 1-2, or often 3 inches wide, acute or 

 slightly acuminate, narrowed into a slight margined petiole, thickish, very 

 smooth except the margins, with a rather strong midrib ; the primary veins 

 seldom prominent; the veinlets very copiously and minutely reticulated; 

 upper leaves successively much reduced in size ; the primary veins obscure 

 and similar to the immersed, inconspicuous, but finely reticulated veinlets. 

 Panicle very showy, 6-18 inches in length, composed of numerous, rigid, 

 dense or spicate racemes, which vary from 1 to 5 inches in length. Heads 

 crowded, 12-16-(rarely 18-) flowered, large for the number of flowers they 

 contain, but somewhat variable in size. Scales of the involucre 1-nerved, 

 pale, with greenish summits, glabrous or nearly so, appressed, large ; the 

 exterior oval or oblong, short, very obtuse; the innermost linear-oblong, soirie- 

 times acutish. Rays conspicuous, deep yellow. — A very showy species, 

 varying considerably in the size of the leaves, and in the panicle, which in 

 some specimens is very large and compound ; in others small and simple. 

 The var. (i. is a reduced state, growing in poor soil ; its contracted inflorescence 

 often simulating S. bicolor, for which indeed it has sometimes been mistaken. 

 Var. y., which probably grows in more arid situations, has smaller heads as 

 •well as leaves ; the latter often conspicuously veined and more rigid. 



21. S. verna (M. A. Curtis! mss.): softly cinereous-pubescent; stem 

 erect or ascending, loosely paniculate at the summit; the branches nearly 

 naked ; leaves scattered, veiny, minutely tomentose beneath ; the radical 

 and lower cauline ovate or oval, finely serrate, abruptly narrowed into mar- 



