152 COMPOSITE. Solidago. 



cauline 4 to 8 inches long, tapering gradually into a margined petiole ; some ascending 

 primary veins obvious : th^^rsus narrowly oblong or virgate, dense, the short clusters ap- 

 pressed : heads 3 lines long : bracts of the involucre narrowly oblong or nearly linear. — 

 Jour. Acad. Philad. vii. 101, mainly; Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. xvii. 193. S. stricta, Hook. 

 Fl. ii. 4, in part ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 204, not Ait. — Bogs and wet ground, Newfoundland 

 and Canada to L. Superior, south to New England and the mountains of Pennsylvania. 

 S. speciosa, Nutt. Commonly 3 to 6 feet high and robust : leaves thickish and generally 

 ample, oval, ovate, or oblong, entire or little serrate, rather abruptly narrowed into a sessile 

 base, or tlie larger into a winged petiole (these often 4 to 6 inches long and 2 or 3 wide); 

 uppermost small and lanceolate or oblong; primary veins spreading and obscure, seldom 

 more obvious tlian the finely reticulated veinlets : thyrsus narrow, composed of numerous 

 short or rarely elongated spiciform clusters, rigid, rather showy : heads 3 or 4 lines long : 

 bracts of the well-imbricated involucre of firm texture, narrowly oblong, very obtuse, and 

 with a greenish midnerve. — Gen. ii. 160 (excl. syn. Pers.) ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 205. 

 S. sempervirens, Michx. Fl. ii. 119, in part. /S\ petiolaris, Muhl. Cat. 79, not Ait. — Margin of 

 woodlands, in moist or rather fertile soil, Canada and E. New England to N. Carolina and 

 west to Arkansas. 



Var. angustata, Torr. & Gray, 1. c. Stem 2 or 3 feet higli : leaves smaller ; the 

 lower spatulate-oblung or oblanceolate, 2 to 4 inches long, seldom an inch wide, sometimes 

 entire ; upper an inch or two long : thyrsus commonly more simple and virgate, sometimes 

 racemosely compound. — S. erecta ? Ell. Sk. ii. 385 ; DC. Prodr. v. 340 1 — Sandy open 

 ground or prairies, New Jersey to Minnesota and south to Florida and Texas. 



Var. rigidiuscula, Torr. & Gr.\y, 1. c. A form of the var. anrjusttita, growing in 

 dry open places, with more rigid and rougher-edged small leaves. — IMinnesota to Nebraska 

 and Texas. 

 ++++++ -H- ++ Leaves veiny, at least the lower serrate (except sometimes in /Sf./«wce(7): heads 



racemosely paniculate; the racemiform clusters when well developed secund and coumionly 



scorpioid-recurving, sometimes not so in the earlier species. Atlantic species. 

 = Leaves (the lower ample, those of the branches small) shacjveen-scahrous on tlie upper face: in- 



voUicral bracts broadish : heads many-flowered, rather large. 



S. patula, MuiiL. Stem strongly angular and striate, rather stout, 2 to 4 feet high, with 

 rigid elongated branches : leaves pale green, loosely venose and venulose, sharply and rather 

 finely serrate, smooth and glabrous (as is the stem), except the upper face which is strikingly 

 scabrous when rubbed from point to base (being thickly set with minute sliarp callosities 

 antrorsely directed); cauline oval or oblong, 4 to 8 inches long besides the abruptly nar- 

 rowed base or winged petiole of the lowest ; the uppermost and those of the flowering 

 branches sometimes ecpialling the at length spreading clusters of the narrow or virgate thyr- 

 sus : heads 3 or even 4 lines long : bracts of involucre linear-oblong, very obtuse : rays 6 or 7, 

 small, light yellow : disk-flowers 8 to 12 : akencs minutely pubescent. — Willd. Spec. iii. 2059 ; 

 Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 213. S. asperata, Pursh, Fl. ii. 538, as to herb. Lamb. " S. angulala, 

 Muhl.," ex Spreng. in herb. Willd.; Schrad. in DC. Prodr. v. 331. 5. Frankii, Hochst. & 

 Steud. in distrib. Frank. — Wet soil, Canada to Wisconsin, south to Georgia, Missouri, and 

 Texas. Flowering rather early. 



Var. strictula, Torr. & Gray, 1. c. Narrower leaved, and Avitli simpler and strict 

 inflorescence. — Z?. saUcimi, Ell. Sk. ii. 389, ex char. S. scabra, Hook. Comj). Bot. Mag. i. 

 97. — Commoner southward to Louisiana and Florida. 

 = = Leaves not scabrous, both faces minutely cinereous puberuleiit : heads small, many-flowered, 



loosely disposed on the at length secund branches of an open j)anicle: vernal ! 

 S. veriia, M. A. Curtis. Stem 2 or 3 feet high, cinereous-pubescent, bearing a loo.se naked 

 panicle: leaves thinnish ; radical and lower cauline oval or ovate, minutely serrate (2 to 4 

 inches long), abruptly contracted into a margined petiole, the primary veins (2 or 3 pairs) 

 rather conspicuous ; upper cauline small and sparse, oblong, entire : heads barely 3 lines long : 

 bracts of the involucre rather narrow and thin : rays 10 or 12 : akenes pubescent. — Torr, «S: 

 Gray, Fl. ii. 205. — Open and sandy pine woods, near Wilmington, North Carolina, Curtis, 

 T. F. Wood, &c. Flowering in May ! 

 = = =: Leaves connnonly thin and membranaceous, loosely veiny (if firmer the veinlets of the 



lower face conspicuously reticulated), small or not large: heads small (about 2 lines long): 



bracts of the involucre rather few and narrow, obtuse: akenes pubescent. 



