248 COMPOSITE FAMILY 



11. SERICOCARPUS. 

 1. S. rigidus Lindl. Stems erect, 2 or 3 ft. high, perennial, 

 leafy throughout. Leaves rough, alternate, oblong, entire 

 (often wavy), 1 or 2 in. long. Heads Y% in. high, in close ter- 

 minal clusters, the bracts closely imbricated and with broad 

 green tips. Rays white, few, short. Akenes hairy; pappus 

 white. — A species of the Tahoe and more northern districts 

 but also found near Hetch Hetchy and reported from Yo- 

 semite Valley. 



12. ASTER. Aster. 

 Ours all perennial herbs with alternate or basal leaves and 

 showy flowers. Involucre top-shaped to hemispheric, the 

 bracts imbricated in several ranks. Rays in 1 row, never 

 yellow; disk-flowers yellow. Style-branches flattened, with 

 acute appendages. Akenes flattened; pappus copious, of hair- 

 like bristles. — A genus not well separated from Erigeron. 



Leaves all basal, entire, the nearly naked stem bearing but 



1 head \. A. andersonii. 



Leaves scattered, the lower toothed; outer bracts recurved 



at tip 6. A. canescens. 



Leaves scattered, entire; heads several to numerous; 

 bracts nearly straight. 



Herbage glandular; leaves x / 2 to 2 in. wide 2. A. integrifolius. 



Herbage not glandular; leaves narrower. 



Bracts of the involucre all loose and similar. 



Plants slender, mostly 1 to 2 ft. high 3. A. yosemitanus. 



Plants rigid, mostly under 14 in. high 4. A. fremontii. 



Bracts closely imbricated, the outer successively 



shorter 5. A. occidentalis. 



1. A. andersonii Gray. Anderson Aster. Stem 6 to 18 in. 

 high, bearing a few reduced leaves. Basal leaves linear, en- 

 tire, 2 to 7 in. long. Head solitary, terminal, 1 in. across; 

 bracts nearly equal, acute, reddish-margined. Rays purple. 



In the Eagle Peak Meadows and in similar places above the 

 Yellow Pine Belt we find this Aster raising its beautiful, pur- 

 ple heads above the grasses and other low plants. Its own 

 leaves imitate those of grass in appearance but are all borne 

 near the ground, the solitary head being on a nearly naked 

 stalk. 



2. A. integrifolius Nutt. A coarse rigid plant, the reddish 

 leafy stems bearing racemes or panicles of large heads. 

 Leaves entire, large (2 to 10 in. long, ^ to 2 in. wide), the 

 lower petioled, upper sessile and clasping. Heads nearly 1 

 in. across; bracts green, linear. Rays 15 to 25, bluish purple. 



