166 COMPOSITE. 



compound or decompound ; the branches corymbose at their summits ; 

 leaves linear, entire, or remotely serrate, rough on the margin, sessile ; 

 those of the branches smaller and acute ; scales of the involucre imbricate, 

 linear-obtuse. A. sparsiflorus Willd. A. foliolosus Ait. ? 



JMoist soils. Ver. to Flor. and Louis. W. to Mich. Aug. — Oct. %. — Stem 

 1 — 3 feet high. Leaves decreasing in size to the branchlets. Heads scattered ; 

 rays pale purple or nearly wliite. A very variable species. Bushy Aster. 



23. A. ericoides Linn. : stem smoothish, racemose-compound ; branches 

 virgate, branchlets unilateral ; lovirer leaves oblanceolate or oblong-spatu- 

 late, tapering into a short margined petiole, often serrate ; upper linear- 

 lanceolate and linear-subulate ; scales of the involucre short, imbricate, 

 subulate-spreading, the lower cuspidate. A. sparsiflorus Mich. 



Old fields. Can. to Car. W. to Miss. Aug.— Oct. %..—Stem 1—3 feet high, 

 often so much branched as to resemble a small bush. Leaves very numerous, 

 and somewhat rigid. Heads arranged imilalerally ; rays white or pale purple; 

 disk at length purplish. Heath-like Aster. 



24. A. miser Linn. : stem mostly pubescent or hairy, racemosely branched 

 or compound ; branches erect or spreading ; leaves lanceolate or oblong- 

 lanceolate, sessile, acuminate or attenuate at each end, serrate in the middle ; 

 radic^ spatulate-lanceolate or oval ; upper becoming smaller and often 

 entire ; scales of the involucre linear ; rays short. 



var. 1. miserrimus Torr. <^ Gr. : leaves elliptic- or cuneiform-lanceolate, 

 more or less rough ; flowering branches short. 



var. 2. gloinerellus Torr. d^ Gr. : mostly cinerous-pubcscent or rough ; 

 heads glomerate-spicate at the summit of the stem, or on diverging branches. 

 A. diffiisus Muhl. 



var. 3. diffusus Torr. d^ Gr. : branches diffuse, mostly elongated, diver- 

 gent recurved-spreading or divaricate. A. dijfusjis, divergens, penditlu.'i 

 and parviflorus Nees. 



var. 4. hirsuticaulis Torr. <^ Gr. : leaves narrow-lanceolate elongated, 

 more or less hairy ; heads racemose or spicate, on short diverging branchlets. 

 A. hirsuticautis Linn. 



Old fields. Can. and throughout the U. S. Aug. — Nov. %. — A very varia- 

 ble species, the exact limits of which are not yet perhaps accurately fixed. I fol- 

 low Torrey and Gray, although it will* probably be found that the characters 

 which they have given to their several varieties are not in all cases constant. 

 The heads are usually numerous, but qmte small, with the rays often inconspicu- 

 ous w lute or very pale purple ; disk purplish. Pappus dirty white. It usually 

 has the appearance of a stunted plant; varies in height from 8 or 10 inches to 

 3 or 4 feet, erect or diffuse, at first nearly simple, but atHength much branched. 



Starved Aster. 



25. A. conx,olor Linn. : stem erect, simple or sparingly branched, virgate ; 

 leaves oblong-lanceolate, sessile, entire, minutely silky on both sides ; heads 

 in a simple or compound virgate raceme ; scales of the involucre imbricate, 

 lanceolate, acute. . 



Dry sandy soils. N. Y. to Flor. Aug.— Nov. %.—Stem 2—3 feet high, 

 sparmgly bmnched. Leaves at length nearly smooth. Heads on short bracteate 



Seduncles, middle-sized ; rays bluish-violet. It has somewhat the habit of a 

 Aatris, and is one of our most showy species. Racemed Violet Aster. 



26. A. muUifloris Ait. : stem grayish-pubescent, diffusely racemose-com- 

 pound ; leaves crowded, linear, entire, serrulate-scabrous on the margin, 



