Aster. COMPOSIT.E. 187 



Michx. n. ii. 115, not of L., &c. A. rtu'ser, Nutt. Gen. ii. 158 (a cinereous-pubescent variety 

 or state, of sun-burnt situations, short-leaved and glomerate-clustered, partly the var. t/hme- 

 rellus, Torr. & Gray, under this name) ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 129 ; not L. (pi. IJill.), nor Ait. 

 A. parvijforus, Darlingt. Fl. Cest. 446, not Nees. Solidago Uiterijiora, L. Spec. ii. 879. — 

 Dry or barely moist ground, Canada to Texas and west to Missouri. A. dijf'usus is^ on the 

 whole, the best of three names of same date. 



Var. horizontalis. A robust, very bushy-branched and exceedingly floriferous 

 cultivated form ; the leaves thickish, tiiose of the widely spreading flowering branches small 

 and short, entire: white rays more conspicuous. — A. horizontalis, Desf. Cat. ed. 3, 402. A. 

 recurvatus, Willd. Spec. iii. 2047. — A plant of the gardens, not exactly matclied by iudige- 

 Dous specimens, but evidently of this species. 



Var. thyrsoideus. From slightly to distinctly cinereous-pubescent : leaves from 

 ovate-oblong to lanceolate : flowering branches ascending, rather rigid, either short or some- 

 what elongated : heads thyrsoid-pauiculate or spicate-glomerate, less secund. — Part of A . 

 miser, var. glomerellus, Torr. & Gray, 1. c. — New York to Illinois and Upper Canada. West- 

 ern forms connect with the next species. 



Var. hirsuticaxilis (A. hirsuticaulis, Lindl. in DC. Prodr. v. 242, and A. miser, var. 

 hirsuticaulis, Torr. & Gray, Fl. 1. c), founded only on specimens from Albany, N. Y., Beck-, 

 in herb. Torr. & Lindl., is a singular form, probably growing in much shade, with long and 

 narrow leaves, as of A. vimineus, the midrib of these beneath and tlie stem very hirsute. 

 Other forms in Torr. & Gray, FL, are ambiguous between this and A. vimineus. 



Var. bifrons. A luxuriant form, growing in shady and moist grounds, with large 

 and thin elongated-lanceolate leaves, and sjjreadiug branches with loosely disposed and mostly 

 larger heads : a transition to the following section and to A. paniculatus, Lam. — A. bifrons, 

 Lindl. in DC. Prodr. v. 243. — Shady banks of Kentucky Piver (Short) to Illinois. 



-i— -i 1— -<— -f— Involucre various, in some imbricated and with short close tips, as in the last 



preceding section, in others more loose and herbaceous : heads when numerous either thyrsoid- 

 or open-paniculate on erect or ascending branches. — Vulr/nres. 



•H- Cauline leaves sessile, but neither with cordate or auriculate base (except in forms of A. Novi- 

 Belijii and A. foUaceus), nor with abrupt winged-petiole-like lower jiortioii. 



>= Atlantic United States species, with branching stems or several or many heads when well de- 

 veloped, none alpine or subalpine : herbage disposed to be glabrous, but branches often pubes- 

 cent in lines. 



a. Involucre of the small or middle-sized heads close and erect; its bracts narrow, imbricated in 

 successive lengths, the small green tips not ddated nor spreading. Species seemingly confluent 

 in a series. 



A. Tradescanti, L., partly. Stem slender, 2 to 4 feet high, with ntimerous erect or ascend- 

 ing branches and branchlets: leaves lanceolate or linear, slightly serrate or entire, thinnish : 

 small heads numerous, corymbosely or somewhat racemosely paniculate, only two or three 

 lines high : bracts of the involucre linear, acutish, partly green at tip and down the back : 

 rays white, or sometimes tinged with- lilac, only about 2 lines long. — Spec. ii. 876 (as to 

 Hort. Cliff, in part, if herb. Cliff, is of any authority, and as to syu. A. Virginianns pnrvis 

 Jioribii.s Tradescanti, Moris. Hist. iii. 121, whence the name) ; Ait. Kew. iii. 204 (var. fl. albis) ; 

 Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. xvii. 166; not of L. Hort. Ups. & herb., only in small part of Torr. 

 & Gray, Fl. A. miser. Ait. Kew. iii. 205, not L. A. fragilis, Willd. Spec. iii. 2051 ; not 

 A. Tradescanti fracp'liSjToTT. & Gray. A. leucanthemus, Desf. Cat. 102; Poir. Suppl. i. 500. 

 A. artemisi(pflorus, Poir. 1. c, ex char. A. parviflorus, Nees, Ast. 99, a ratlier strict form. 

 A. tenuifolius, var., in part, Torr. & Gray, 1. c. 132, not of others. — Ojjen grounds, Canada 

 to Virginia, Illinois, and Saskatchewan. Cult, from earliest days in Furopean gardens. 

 Some forms, both cult, and wild, show affinity to A. diimostis, vimineus, and diffusus ; others 

 differ from the next following species only in the smaller heads and flowers. 



A. paniculatus, Lam. Stem 2 to 8 feet high, freely and paniculately branched : leaves 

 from elongated ol)long to narrowly lanceolate, mostly attenuate-acuminate, sharply serrate 

 or denticulate, or upper entire, thin : heads about a third of an inch high, in loose and open 

 mostly leafy panicles : bracts of the involucre narrowly linear, with tapering acute or acumi 

 nate green tips (or outermost wholly green on back) : rays 3 or 4 lines long, white varying 

 to purplish or pale violet (in drying often turning blue). — Lam. Diet. i. .306 (1783, the char, 

 not good for tlie involucre, but it is the A. serotinus procerior, &c., Touru., cited by Lam.) ; 



