COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 
201 
slender and loose tips. - Copses, Ac., New York and Penn, to Wis¬ 
consin. — Usually more or less hairy; the heads rather larger than in 
the last, almost sessile, with bluish or nearly white rays. 
* * * * Leaves none of them heart-shaped; those of the stem sessile, nar¬ 
row, rigid , entire: involucre imbricated in several rows: the coria¬ 
ceous scales oppressed and whitish at the base, with abrupt and con¬ 
spicuous spreading herbaceous tips : heads small and very numerous , 
paniculate-racemose: rays white. 
15. A. ericoides, L. (Heath-like Aster.) Smooth or spar¬ 
ingly hairy, low; the simple branchlets or peduncles racemose along 
the upper side of the wand-like spreading branches; loicest leaves ob- 
lonv-spatulate, sometimes toothed ; the others linear-lanceolate or linear- 
awl-shaped , acute at both ends; scales of the involucre broadest at the 
base, with acute or awl-shaped green tips. — Var. viLLdsus is a hairy 
form, often with broader leaves; chiefly in the Western States. — 
Dry open places, New York to Wisconsin. — Stem about 1° high. 
16. A. multifloras, Ait. (Many-flowered Aster.) Pale 
or hoary with minute close pubescence; the heads much crowded on the 
spreading racemose branches; leaves crowded, linear, spreading, wit 
rough or ciliate margins, the upper somewhat dilated and partly clasp¬ 
ing at the base; scales of the involucre with spatulate spreading green 
tips broader than the lower portion, the outer obtuse. Dry gravelly 
or sandy soil, common.— Plant 1° or so high, much branched and 
bushy. 
***** Leaves none of them heart-shaped ; those of the stem taper¬ 
ing at the base, sessile ; involucre imbricated; the scales of unequal 
length, with short and narrow oppressed or rather loose greenish tips: 
heads small or middle-sized: rays white or pale bluish-purple. 
■*- Heads small. 
17. A. dlimdsilS, L. (Bushy Aster.) Smooth or nearly so, 
racemosely compound, the scattered heads mostly solitary at the end of 
the spreading branchlets; leaves linear or the upper oblong, crowded, 
entire or slightly serrate, with rough margins ; scales of the closely im¬ 
bricated involucre linear-spatulate, obtuse , in 4 - 6 rows. Thickets in 
dry or moist soil, common. — A variable species, 1 -3? high, oose 
branched, with small leaves, especially the upper, and an inversely 
conical or bell-shaped involucre, with more abrupt green tips than[ 
of the succeeding. Rays pale purple or blue, larger than in the next. 
Runs into several peculiar forms. 
18. A. Tradcscilnti, L. (Narrow-leaved Aster) Smooth 
or smoothish ; the numerous heads closely racemed^ along the erect- 
spreading or diverging branches; moBtly one-si e , eases ‘ 
late-linear, elongated, the larger ones remotely serrate in the 
with fine sharp teeth ; scales of the involucre narrowly near, 
acutish, imbricated in 3 or 4 rows. - Var. ni«u*; leaves entire 
