Aster. COMPOSITE. 195 



(4 to 8 inches long), oblong- or ovate-lanceolate, saliently serrate in the middle, attenuate- 

 acuminate, and lower half or third narrowed as if into a broadly winged petiole, which is 

 more or less (in most cases conspicuously) dilated into an auriculate-claspiug base; upper 

 surface minutely scabrous, lower smooth : heads (mostly 4 lines iiigh) on short rather rigid 

 and divergent peduncles : rays not very numerous, about 5 lines long, pale violet or in shade 

 whitish: bracts of involucre narrow and outer more or less spreading — Willd. Spec. iii. 

 204G; Nees, Ast. Gl ; IJarlingt. Fl. Cest. 4G5 ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 142. — Moist ground 

 especially along streams, W. New England to Penu. and Wisconsin, and throughout Canada. 

 The var. smher, Torr. & Gray, 1. c. (New York & Fenu. in few specimens, with stem almost 

 hispid in the upper part, or else tall and branching), is probably a hybrid with A. prmiceus. 

 A. puniceus, L. Stem commonly 3 to 7 feet high, loosely branching above, rather stout, 

 often red or ])urple (whence tlie name), hispid with spreading bristles which are taper- 

 pointed from a thickened rigid base (but sometimes these are few and sparse): leaves not 

 rigid (3 to 6 inches long), oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, from coarsely and irregularly serrate 

 to sparingly denticulate or sometimes entire, not at all or slightly narnnved toward the sub- 

 cordate-semiamplexicaul base, commonly scabrous above and often hispid along the midrib 

 beneath : heads (4 to 6 lines iiigh) subsessile, either sparsely paniculate or thyrsoid-crowded : 

 involucre of loose and tiiin soft and narrowly linear merely herbaceous bracts, with or with- 

 out some larger and more foliaceous accessory ones : raj^s half-inch long, violet, varying to 

 purple or occasionally white. — Spec. ii. 875 (Hort. Cliff., Herm. Lugd. t. 651, &c.); Ait. 

 Kew. iii. 208; Michx. Fl. ii. 115; Lindl. Bot. Keg. t. 1G3G (var. demissus), Torr. & Gray, 

 Fl. ii. 140. A. hispidus & A. amanus, Lam. Diet. i. 306. A. blandns, Lodd. Bot. Cab. t. 959. — 

 Swamps and low thickets. Nova Scotia and Canada, west to Dakota, and common in the 

 Atlantic States as far south as N. Carolina and the upper part of Georgia. A common 

 species in cool districts, generally well marked, l)ut rumiing into some peculiar varieties, 

 wliicli may mostly l)e grouped under the following. 



Var. laevicaulis. Usually lower, a foot to a yard high : stem mostly green, smooth 

 and naked below, above with mere traces of the characteristic hispid or hii-sute pubes- 

 cence : leaves serrate. — A.blundus, Pursh, Fl. ii. 555 (Solander in herb. Banks), apjtears 

 to be this, but may be A. turdiflonts. A. Jirmus, Nees, Ast. 66, a low form, certainly of 

 jjuniceus, with few-flowered branches. A puniceus, var. Jirmus, Torr. & Gray, 1. c. A. con- 

 fertus, Hort. Par. 1835-1869 (but not of Nees, Ast. 126), a form with numerous thyrsoid- 

 crowded heads. A. vimineus, Nees, Ast. 68 (form witli longer and nearly glabrous branches), 

 not of Willd., nor of Lam. — New England, Canada, &c. 



Var, lucidulus. A foot to a yard high, very leafy : stems glabrous, or with vestiges or 

 even conspicuous traces of hispidulous pubescence : leaves lanceolate, entire or sparingly 

 denticulate, somewhat lucid, wholly glabrous, but upper surface more or less scabrous : 

 heads commonly numerous and thyrsoid-paniculate : involucral bracts less loose and less 

 attenuate. — A. lucidus, Wenderoth, Lid. Sem. Marb., ex DC. Prodr. v. 247. A. j)uniceus, 

 var. vimineus, Torr. & Gray, 1. c, chiefly. — Low ground. New England to Illinois, Wisconsin, 

 and northward. 



b. Ilocky Mountain and Western t^pecies. 



A. Cusickii, Gray. Soft-pubescent throughout, or sometimes approaching to glabrous : 

 stems a foot or so high, simple or corymlwsely branched, leafy to summit : leaves thin, 

 nearly entire, oblong-lanceolate or oblong; upper ones moderately contracted above tlie 

 deeply conLate-clasping base ; lower with more elongated narrow lower portion or winged 

 petiole with dilated but smaller auriculate-clasping insertion : heads large (over lialf-inch 

 high) and broad, terminating stem or leafy short branches: involucre very foliaceous or 

 foliose-sul)tended and loose; the larger and broader-lanceolate outer bracts fully ecpialling 

 the inner : rays numerous, narrowly linear, nearly half-incli long, pale violet : akenes glabrous. 

 — Proc. Am. Acad. xvi. 99. — Along sul)alpine streams, in mountains of E. Oregon, Cusirk. 

 Mountain meailows of W. Idaho, Watson. The latter seemingly connects witli 



Var. Lyalli. Villous with soft pubescence : stem over 2 feet high, rather stout : radi- 

 cal leaves not seen ; cauliiie mostly narrowed below and with more or less auriculate half- 

 clasping base, l)ut even lower and larger (5 inches long and inch Ijroad) not petiolar- 

 contracted : licads terminating simple leafy brandies : rays long for the size of tlie head 

 (8 or 9 lines). — Between the Kootenay and Pend Oreille, Washington Terr., Aug., 1861, 

 Ljiall. Periiaps a distinct species aud more allied to A. amplus, seen only iu herb. Kew. 



