326 LXXV. COMPOSITjE. Erigeron. 



purplish, channeled, simple, smooth, branching above into a large, level-topped, 

 compound corymb of showy flowers. Leaves narrow, entire, 4—6' in length, 

 those of the branchlets smaller. Rays about 13, white. Disk yellow. Aug. Sept. 

 /?. amyL'dnlinin. St. roughish above, green ; branches of the corymb divaricate; 

 lis. broacfer.— auite different in aspect from variety a. Common. 

 3. D. coRxiFOLius. Less. (Aster cornifolius. Muhl.) 

 St. smooth below, scabrous and slightly paniculate above, few-flowered ; 

 Ivs. elliptical, acuminate, entire, tapering to the base, with scattered hairs, 

 rough-edged ; imol. scales imbricate, shorter than the disk. Grows in woods, 

 N. and Mid. States. Whole plant nearly smooth, erect, 1— 2f high. Leaves 

 acute at the base, paler beneath, on very short stalks. Flowers few, large ; 

 outer scales very short. Rays about 10, white. July, Aug. 

 13. ERIGERON. 



Gr. Tip, the spring, yepoiv, an old man ; because it is hoary early in the season. 



Heads many-flowered, subheinispherical ; ray-flowers $ very nu- 

 merous (40 — 200), narrow, linear : flowers of the disk $ ; receptacle 

 flat, naked ; involucre nearly in 1 row ; pappus generally simple. — 

 Herbs with alternate leaves. Rays cyanic. 



§ Rays longer than the involucre. Mostly %. 



1. E. BKLLiDiFOLicM. Muhl. (E. pulchcUum. Mx.) Robin's Plantain. 

 Hirsute ; radical Ivs. obovate, obtuse, subserrate ; stem Ivs. remote, mostly 



entire, lance-oblong, acute, clasping; hds. 3—7, in a close, terminal corymb; 

 rays nearly tAvice longer than the involucre, linear-spatulate.— Dry fields and 

 thickets, U. S. and Can. Stem erect, simple, sometimes stolinilerous, 1 — 2f 

 high. Leaves 2—3' by 6—9", mostlv broadest above the middle. Rays 60— 

 100, bluish (rarely reddish)-purple. "This is our earliest species, flowering in 

 May and June. Resembles the following. 



2. E. Philadelphicum. (E. purpureum. Ait.) Narrow-rayed Robin's PI. 

 Pubescent or hirsute ; Ivs. thin, lower spatulate, crenate-dentate, upper ob- 



long-oblanceolate, narrowed to the clasping (sometimes cordate-auriculate) 

 base, subserrate ; hds. few, on long, slender peduncles ; rays very numerous, 

 filiform, more than twice longer than the involucre. — Woods and pastures 

 throughout N. Am. Stem slender, 1— 3f high. Leaves 2—4' by &— 9", lower 

 much attenuated at base, upper acute. Rays 150—200 ! reddish-purple or flesh- 

 colored, nearly as slender as hairs. Jn. — Aug. 



/?. '? Ricardi. CauUne Ivs. cordate-ovate. Meriden, N. H. Richard! 



y. St. stout, with coarsely serrate leaves. 



3. E. HETEROPHYLLUM. Muhl. (E. aunuum. Pcrs.) Comvion Flcabane. 

 White-weed.— St. hispid with scattered hairs, branching; Ivs. hirsute, 



coarsely serrate, the lowest ovate, contracted at base into a winged petiole, stem 

 leaves ovate-lanceolate, sessile, acute, the highest lanceolate; rays very numer- 

 ous and narrow. — A common weed, in fields and waste grounds, Can. to Penn. 

 and Kv. Stem thick, ^— 4f high, striate, terminating in a large, diff'use, co- 

 rymbose panicle of large heads. Rays white or purplish, 100 or more, short. 

 June. — Aug. 



4. E. sTRiGosuM. Fleabane. W^ite-weed. Daisy. 



Hairy and strigose ; Ivs. lanceolate, tapering to each end, entire or with a 

 few large teeth in the middle, lower ones 3-veined and petiolate ; panicle co- 

 rymbose ; pappus double. — A rough weed in grassy fields, Can. and U. S. Stem 

 about 2f high, slender, furrowed, with close, short, stifi" hairs, and bearing a 

 large, loose corymb. Leaves also with close-pressed bristles, sessile. Rays 

 very narrow, white. June — Oct. 



/8. (E. integerrifolium. Bu:.) St. simple, smooth; Ivs. entire, pubescent ; /s. 

 corymbed. Rays 100—150. 



§ § Rays shorter than the involucre. Plants ® or @. 



5. E. DivARicATiM. Michx. 



Decumbent and diffusely branched, hirsute ; Ivs. linear and subulate; hds. 



