Liatris. COMPOSITE. Ill 



dense, cylindrical (5 to 18 inches long) : heads (4 to 6 lines long) all sessile: bracts of the 

 involucre 14 to 16, oblong or the inner narrower; the more or less scarious squarrose tips 

 purple or purplish, usually acute : pappus copious, minutely barbellate. — Fl. ii. 91 ; Pursh, 

 n. ii. 507 (excl. syn. Dill. & Walt. ?) ; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. L. braclujstachiju, Nutt. in Jour. 

 Acad. Philad. vii. 72, a glabrous form. — Prairies, Illinois and Iowa to Arkansas and Texas. 

 Apparently this hybridizes with L. spicata : at least specimens occur which are intermediate 

 between the two species. 



•(— +- -1— Heads from short-oblong to cylindraceous: bracts of the involucre all oppressed, 

 •H- Obtuse and mostly rounded at the pointless apex. 

 = Leaves narrowly linear, or the lowermost larger and broader; upper ones gradual!}' reduced to 

 linear-subidate bracts. 

 L. spicata, Willd. Glabrous, or with some sparse hirsute pubescence : stem stout or tall, 

 usually 2 to 5 feet high, very leafy : heads 8-13- (sometimes 5-7-) flowered, half-inch long, 

 almost erect, closely sessile and numerous in a dense spike of a span to a foot or more in 

 length : involucre obtuse or rounded at base ; its bracts obscurely if at all glandular-punc- 

 tate, but not rarely glutinous ; the tips of the inner usually with narrow colored scarious 

 margin. — Sims, Bot. Mag. t. 1411 ; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. 7.3 ; Torr. Fl. N. Y. 35, t. 47. Cirsium 

 tiiheiosum, &c., Dill. Elth. t. 72, fig. 83. Serratida spicata, L. Spec. ii. 819 (excl. syn. Gronov.) ; 

 Andr. Bot. Rep. t. 401. 5. compta, Dryander in herb. Banks, cited by Pursh under the 

 next. Liatris vnicrostachya, Michx. Fl. ii. 91 ; Pursh, 1. c. L. resinosa, Nutt. Gen. ii. 131, a 

 small form with 5-flowered heads. L. sessili flora, Bertol. Misc. v. 10, t. 2 (but our specimen 

 from coll. Alabama, Gates, has hirsute foliage), a form with slender and looser spike. — Moist 

 or rich soil, Mass. and New York to Wisconsin and Arkansas, and south through the upper 

 country to Florida and Louisiana.* 



Var. montana. Low and stout, lO to 20 inches high : leaves broader, lower ones 

 half to two-thirds inch wide, obtuse: spike proportionally short and heads large. — L. 

 macrostac/ii/a, Michx. 1. c, in part. L. pumila, Loddiges. L. spicata, Sweet, Brit. Fl. Gard. 

 t. 49. L. jiilusu, in part, Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 74. — Rocky mountain-tops in Virginia and 

 N. Carolina, where it abounds. 

 L. graminifolia, Puesh. More «lender than the preceding, mostly only 2 or 3 feet high : 

 leaves usually ciliate toward the base with scattered hispid hairs, rigid, often sparse : heads 

 more sparsely spicate or scattered, not rarely becoming racemose or paniculate, mostly half- 

 inch long : involucre acutish at base ; its bracts firmer, oval and oblong, glandular-punctate 

 on the herbaceous back, the rounded (or sometimes slightly herbaceous-apiculate) tip hardlv 

 at all scarious-edged. — (Willd. Spec. iii. 1636, only as to name & syn. of Anonymos cp-amini- 

 fvlia, Walt., which is also uncertain.) Pursh, Fl. ii. 308 (excl. portions of char, taken from 

 Willd.); Nutt. Gen. ii. 131 ; Ell. Sk. ii. 274; DC. Prodr. v. 130, chiefly; Torr. & Gray, Fl. 

 ii. 72. L. pihsa, var. gracilis, Nutt. Gen. ii. 131. L. virgata, Nutt. Jour. Acad. Philad. vii. 72, 

 & Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. n. ser. vii. 284, a form running into compouud-paniculate inflores- 

 cence, with small heads. Sfrratalafoliis linearihus, Gronov.- Virg. ed. 1, 92 ; cited by Linnteus 

 under 5. spicata. — Dry or moist ground, Virginia to Florida. 



Var. dubia, Gray. Spike strict and virgate, with many approximate rather large 

 heads, or occasionally racemiform, or abnormally paniculate : bracts of the involucre nar- 

 rower aud tliinner, sometimes obscurely scarious-margined. — Man. 224 (Torr. & Gray, 1. c). 

 L. pilosa, Willd. (Serratida pihsa, Ait. Kew. ed. 1, iii. 138 ?, apparently a state with unusually 

 narrow involucral scales, and like Lodd. Cab. t. 356, the only character being " 6\ Joliis 

 linearibus pilosis, fiorihus axiUarihus hnge pediinculatis ") ; Pursh, 1. c. ; Ell. 1. c. ; Lindl. Bot. 

 Reg. t. 595. L. pilosa, var. loevicaulis, & L. spicata, var. raceniosa, DC. 1. c. L. dubia, Bart. 

 Mat. Med. ii. 222, t. 49. L. propinqna. Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 3829. — Sandy pine barrens, New 

 Jersey to Florida and Alabama, near the coast, in wet or dry soil. 

 L. gracilis, Pursh. Cinereous-pubescent or glabrate : stem slender, 1 to 3 feet high : leaves 

 rather short, mostly spreading ; lower usually oblong-linear or oblanceolate, upper small and 

 narrow: heads small (4 or 5 lines long), 3-5- or rarely 6-7-flowered, numerous in a virgate 

 raceme, on spreading or horizontal slender pedicels, or rarely spicate, often loosely com- 

 pound-paniculate : bracts of the involucre lax, rather few (7-10), thinnish, commonly gland- 

 ular-puberulent, not scarious at tip. — Fl. ii. 508; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. L. pauciflosculosn , 

 Nutt. in Jour. Acad. Philad. 1. c. 71. L. lanceolata, Bertol. Misc. v. 11, t. 3. — Dry pine 

 barrens, Georgia, Alabama and Florida. 



