256 COMPOSITE, (composite family.) 



ovate or ovate-lanceolate, all but the uppermost heart-shaped at tlie base and 

 on slender naked petioles; rays 6-9. — Woodlands; common; especially 

 northward. July, Aug. — Plant 1-2° high, with smaller heads, looser co- 

 rymbs, rounder and less rigid exterior involucral scales, and thinner leaves 

 than the next ; not rough, but sometimes pubescent. 



3. A. macroph^llus, L. Stem stout and rigid (2-3° high); leaves 

 thickish, rough, closely serrate, abruptly pointed; the lower heart-shaped (4-10' 

 long, 3-6' wide), long-petioled ; the upper ovate or oblong, sessile or on mar- 

 gined petioles; heads in ample rigid corymbs; rays 10-15 (white or bluish). 

 — ]Moist woods ; common northward, and southward along the mountains. 

 Aug., Sept. — Involucre Y broad ; the outer scales rigid, oblong or ovate-ob 

 long, the innermost much larger and thinner. 



§ 3. ASTER proper. Scales imbricated in various degrees, with herbaceous or 

 leaf-like summits, or the outer entirely foliaceons ; rays numerous; pappus 

 simple, soft and nearly uniform [coarser and more rigid in the Jivst group) ; 

 achenes flattened. (All flowering late in summer or in autumn.) 



* 1. Scales well imbricated, coriaceous, with short herbaceous mostly obtuse spread- 

 ing tips; pappus of rigid bristles ; stem-leaves all sessile, none heart-shaped 

 or clasping ; heads feio, or when several corymbose, large and showy. 



-t- Loicest leaves ovate or ovate-oblong, some rounded or subcordate at base. 



4. A. Herveyi, Gray. Slightly scabrous, 1-2° high, the summit and 

 peduncles glandular-puberulent ; leaves roughish, obscurely serrate, the lower 

 ovate on nearly naked petioles, the upper lanceolate ; heads loosely corymbose, 

 Y high ; involucre nearly hemispherical, the scales obscurely glandular, all 

 erect, with very short or indistinct green tips; rays violet, ^ long. — Borders 

 of oak woods, in rather moist soil, E. Mass. and R. I. ; Mt. Desert. An 

 ambiguous species, approaching the last. 



•*- -t- Radical leaves all tapering into margined petioles; involucres squarrose 

 {hardly so in n. 8) ; rootstocJcs slender. 



5. A. spectabilis, Ait. Stems 1-2° high, roughish and glandular- 

 puberulent above; leaves oblong-lanceolate, or the lower spatulate-oblong, 

 obscurely serrate or the upper entire ; heads few, hemispherical, Y high ; scales 

 glandular-puberulent and viscid ; mostly with the upper half herbaceous and 

 spreading ; rays about 20, bright violet, nearly 1' long. — Sandy soil, Mass. to 

 Del., near the coast, and perhaps southward. Sept. - Nov. One of the hand- 

 somest species of the genus. 



6. A. SUrculosUS, Michx. Stems 1° high or less, from long fliform 

 rootstocks ; leaves entire or nearly so, rigid, lanceolate or the upper linear ; 

 heads few or solitarv, as in the last but generally smaller, the scales hardly 

 glandular. — ^loist ground, coast of N. J., and southward. 



7. A. gracilis, Nutt. Rootstocks occasionally tuberous-thickened ; stems 

 slender, 1° high; leaves oblong-lanceolate, entire or nearly so, small (1-2' 

 long); heads few or several; involucre top shaped, 3-4" long, glabrou.s, not 

 glandular nor viscid, the coriaceous whitish scales with very short deltoid or ovate 

 tips ; rays 9 - 1 2, 3 - 6" long. — Pine barrens, N. J. to N. C, E. Ky. and Tenn. 



8. A. radula, Ait. Stem simple or corymbose at the summit, smooth 

 or sparsely hairy, many-leaved (1-3° high); leaves oblong-lanceo/ate, pointed. 



