Solidago. COMPOSITE. 153 



a. Raj^s from none to 3: leaves clasping! 



S. amplexicaulis, Torr. & Gray. Minutely soft-pubescent or glabrate : stem slender, 

 1 to 3 feet higli, with spreading brandies : leaves ovate, acute or acuminate, acutely serrate, 

 rather scabrous above and soft-pubescent beneath ; the upper slightly narrowed above the 

 dilated auriculate-clasping base ; lower cauline with longer contracted portion ; lowest and 

 radical wing-petioled below the truncate or subcordate base of the lamina (tjiis about 2 inches 

 long) : racemiform clusters of the thyrsus slender, secuud, often simple : ])ap])us shorter than 

 the disk-corolla. — Fl. ii. 218 (not Martens, which is 5. PudddlU) ; Chapm. Fl. 213. — Ojjeu 

 dry woods, Florida to Louisiana, Leavemcorth, CJiapmnn, Riujel, distributed by Fhuttleworth 

 as S. auriculata. Makes the nearest approach to BracJiijchata. 



b. Rays 4 to 6 or rarelv more, small, and disk-flowers little more numerous: leaves sessile by a 

 narrow base, pinnately veiny : pubescence of spreading hairs, or hardly any, 



S. rugosa, Mill. Stem hirsute or pubescent with spreading hairs, low or moderately tall 

 (1 to 6 feet high), mostly slender, very leafy to the top : leaves thin and soft, or in dry open 

 ground becoming thicker and firmer, from oval-ovate to oblong-lanceolate (1 to 4 inches 

 long), mostly acute or acuminate, sometimes obtuse, usually hirsute on the veins and veinlets 

 beneath ; these conspicuous and often rugose-reticulated, .sometimes scabrous above : in- 

 florescence when well developed recurved-spreadiug, but sometimes erect : bracts of the 

 iuvolucre linear. — Diet. ed. 8; Willd. Spec. iii. 2058; Ait. Kew. ed. 2, v. 66 ; Gray, Proc. 

 Am. Acad. xvii. 194. Viiya-aurea sp., Uill. Elth. 406-41 1, t. 304, 305, 308, appended in L. Spec. 

 878 to .S". altissima, but not referred to it. S. nltissinm & S. aspera, Ait Kew. iii. 212 ; Willd. 

 1. c. S. scabra, Muhl. in Willd. 1. c. S. villosn, Pursh, Fl. ii. 537. S. hundlis, Desf. Cat. 

 ed. 3, 402 ; DC. 1. c, a low form, commonly with the racemiform clusters erect, or hardly 

 spreading and secuud. .S. aspendu, Desf. Cat. 1. c. 403 ? (S. hirta, Willd. Euum. 891. S. ri- 

 gidulu, Bosc, in hort. Paris 1 S. asperata, Soland. mss., and so of Pursh as to herb. Banks. 

 aS'. altissima, Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 216 (inch altissima, jnlosa, recurvata, Virijinitina, Mill. 

 Diet.), not L. — Moist or dry ground, Newfoundland and Labrador to Texas; very common 

 eastward in the Atlantic States. Polymorphous, not readily sorted into definable varieties ; 

 in shade thin-leaved ; in open and dry soil has smaU and Ijroader, firmer, more scabrous, and 

 rugose-reticulated leaves, ti. rui/osa, Mill., is the best of the old names to take up. 



S. ulmif olia, Muhl. Resembles the thinner-leaved and least pubescent forms of the pre- 

 ceding (into which it appears to pass), but with stem smooth and glabrous, except perhaps 

 the summit : leaves bright green, nearly smooth and glabrous, or pubescent, membranaceous, 

 acute or acuminate at both ends, usually coarsely serrate, the larger veins conspicuous but 

 veinlets inconspicuous : thyrsus more naked : bracts of the involucre of firmer texture and 

 more obtuse. — Willd. Spec. iii. 2060; Darlingt. Fl. Cest. 457; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 217. 

 S. latfrijiora, Ait. Kew. iii. 211, not L. — Moist woodlands and copses, Maine to Iowa, Arkan- 

 sas, and Texas. S. mullijlora, Desf. (in Poir. Suppl. v. 462) Cat. 1. c. 402, DC Prodr. v. 336, 

 appears to bo a state of this, altered by cultivation. 



Var. microph^lla. A reduced and rather rigid form ; with lower leaves 2 inches 

 long ; upper reduced to lialf an inch, obtuse, obscurely serrate. — Texas, Lindhcimer, 

 Wright. 



= = = == Leaves usually of firm texture and inconspicuous reticulation, occasionally thin and 

 membranaceous or more veiny, not scabrous above, commonly glabrous as also the stems: 

 bracts of the involucre from broadly linear to narrowly oblong, obtuse. 



o. Stem equably and vcrj- leafy up to or into the pyramidal compound tli\-rsus: leaves compara- 

 tively sliort and broad, even the lower not much narrowed downward, tlie secondary veins 

 often manifest. 



S. EUiottii, Torr. & Gray. Smooth and glabrous throughout, or the thyrsus somewhat 

 pubescent : stem tall, rigid : leaves from ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, apiculate-acumi- 

 nate or acute, minutely and sparsely serrate with appressed teetli, scabrous on the margin, 

 mostly closely sessile by a broadish base (1 to 4 inches long) : heads (3 lines long) crowded 

 on the secund and spreading or sometimes ascending and straight racemiform or spiciform 

 branches of the pyramidal panicle : bracts of the involucre rather broadly linear : rays 8 to 

 12, short: akenes pubescent. — Fl. ii. 218, and S. elliptica of the same, as to the plant of 

 New York. S. elliptica? Ell. Sk. ii. 376. S. elonrjata, Hort. Par. 1832. —Moist ground uear 

 the coast, Massachusetts to New York aud through the low country south to Georgia. 



