coMfosiT^. (composite family.) 265 



single row of capillary bristles, with minuter ones intermixed, or with a dis- 

 tinct short outer pap^jus of little bristles or chaffy scales. — Herbs, with entire 

 or toothed and generally sessile leaves, and solitary or corymbed naked-pedun- 

 culate heads. Disk yellow ; ray white or purple. (Name from ^p, spring, and 

 jipcuy, an old man, suggested by the hoariuess of some vernal species.) 



§ 1. CJENOTUS. Rai/s iiiconspicnoiis, in several rows, scarcely longer than 

 the pappus ; pappus simple ; annuals. 



1. E. Canadensis, L. (Horse-weed. Butter-weed.) Bristly-hairy; 

 slem erect, wand-like (1 -5° high) ; leaves linear, mostly entire, the radical cut- 

 lobed ; heads very numerous and small, cylindrical, }>nnicled. — Waste places; 

 a common weed, now widely diffused over the world. July -Oct. — Ligule 

 of the ray-flowers much sliorter than the tube, white. 



2. E. divaricatUS, Michx. Diffuse and decumbent (3"- l° high); leaves 

 linear or awl-shaped, entire; heads loosely corymbed; rays purple ; otherwise 

 like n. 1. — lud. to Minn., and southward. 



§ 2. TRIMORPH^A. Like § \,but a series of ^filiform rayless pistillate flow- 

 ers icithin the outer row of ray-fiowers ; biennial or sometimes perennial. 



3. E. acris, L. Hirsute-pubescent or smoothish; stem erect (10-20' 

 high) ; leaves lanceolate or the lower spatulate-ublong, entire ; heads several 

 or rather numerous, racemose or at length corymbose, nearly hemispherical 

 (4-5" long), hirsute; rays purplish or bluish, equalling or a little exceeding 

 the copious pappus. — Lower St. Lawrence, across the continent and north- 

 ward. The var. Urcebachensis, Blytt, more glabrous and Avith the green 

 involucre nearly or quite naked, occurs on the shores of L. Superior. (Eu.) 



§3. ERIGERON proper. Rays elongated (ahort in a form of n. 5), crowded 



in one or more rows. 



* Annuals (or sometimes biennial), leafy-stemmed a)id branching ; pappus double, 

 the outer a crown of minute scales, the inner of deciduous fragile bristles, 

 usually ivanting in the ray. 



4. E. annuus, Pers. (Daisy Fleabaxe. Sweet Scabiols.) Stem 

 stout (3 -.5° high), branched, 6esef with spreading hairs ; leaves coarsely and 

 sharply toothed ; the lowest ovate, tapering into a margined petiole, the u])per 

 ovate-lanceolate, acute and entire at both ends ; heads corymbed ; rays white, 

 tinged with purple, not twice the length of the bristly involucre. — Fields and 

 waste places ; a very common weed. June - Aug. (Xat. in Eu.) 



5. E. StrigOSUS, Muhl. (Daisy Fleabaxe.) Stem panicled-corym- 

 bose at the summit, roughish like the leaves with minute oppressed hairs, or 

 almost smooth : leaves entire or nearly so, the upper lanceolate, scattered, the 

 lowest oblong or spatulate, tapering into a slender petiole ; rays white, twice 

 the length of the minutely hairy involucre. — Fields, etc., common. June- 

 Aug. — Stem smaller and more simple than the last, with smaller heads but 

 longer rays. A form w^ith the rays minute, scarcely exceeding the involucre, 

 occurs in S. New England. 



* * Leaf y -stemmed perennials ; pappus simple {double in n. 6). 



6. E. glabellus, Nutt. Stem (6-1.5' high) stout, hairy above, the leaf- 

 less summit bearing 1-7 large heads; leaves nearly glabrous, except the 



