Aster, COMPOSITE. 179 



long, 3 or 4 lines wide), somewhat hispidulous-puberuleut ; those of flowering branchlets not 

 rarely glandular : involucre campanulate, aromatic-scented, the linear bracts grauulose- 

 glandular and viscidulous : rays 25-30, bright violet, 5 or 6 lines long : akeues cinereous- 

 pubescent. — Gen. ii. 1.56, & Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 1. c. 294; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 143. 

 A. biennis, Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ii. 122, not Nutt. A. multiceps, Lindl. in DC. Prodr. v. 237, 

 from St. Louis, not "Louisiana." — Eocliy banks and bluffs, Penn. and Virginia, from the 

 Alleghauies westward to Wisconsin, Kansas, and Texas. 



Var. rigldulus. Low, more fastigiate, with more rigid and hispidulous scabrous 

 leaves. — A. Kiunleini, Fries, in distrib. Mus. lips. no. 5. — In drier and more exposed places, 

 Illinois and Wisconsin, to Texas and Colorado. 



-I— -t— Bracts of the involucre loose and more or less herbaceous (or somewhat colored) almost 

 from the base, linear-attenuate, all equalling the disk: heads hemispherical, numerous and 

 usually thyrsoidly or cyniosely congested at the summit of tiie simple very leafy stem: ruj's 

 numerous and narrow: style-appendages lanceolate: akenes hirsute. 



A. modestus, Lixdl. Merely pubescent or glabrate: stem more slender, 2 feet high: 

 leaves thiunish, lanceolate or broader (2 to 4 inches long), sparingly and acutely serrate or 

 denticulate, very acute, mostly narrowed to a sessile or partlj^ clasping but notauriculate base : 

 heads fewer and smaller than in the preceding: bracts of the involucre and rays less numer- 

 ous ; these "pale blue." — Hook. Fl. ii. 8, & UC. 1. c. 231 ; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. A. Say anus, 

 Kutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 1. c. 294. A. Unalaschkensis? var. major. Hook. Fl. ii. 7. A. 

 mutatus, Torr & Gray, Fl. ii. 142. — Moist woods, Oregon to Brit. Columbia on the Pacific, 

 and east to Saskatchewan and Pembina (Macoun). 



* 3. Involucre imbricated, hemispherical, not glandular nor viscid, squarrose with ovate or lanceo- 



late foliaceous tips to the bracts: pubescence whulli/ soft and cinereous: cauUne leaves oil with 

 sai/ittoie-auriculale clasping base, both sides of the same hue, entire: base of stem said to be 

 somewhat woody ! — Sagittifki!i. 



A. Carolinianus, V/alt. Minutely and softly cinereous-pubescent, not glandular nor 

 viscid : stem diffusely branched, often reclining, 4 to 10 feet long, with .straggling slender 

 branches: leaves oblong-lanceolate, an inch or two long, contracted above the sagittately 

 anriculate insertion : heads terminating small-leaved branciilets : bracts of the involucre well 

 imbricated ; the outer shorter and somewhat spatulate, with ovate-lanceolate green tips or 

 more foliaceous ; inner linear : rays 5 or 6 lines long, narrow, pale purple or rose-color : 

 akenes narrow, glabrous, 10-nerved. — Car. 208 ; Michx. Fl. ii. 211 ; Ell. Sk. ii. 353 ; Chapm. 

 Fl. 205. A. scandens, Jacq. f. Eel. t. 125. — Marshes and river-banks near the coast, S. Car- 

 olina to Florida. 



* 4. Involucre imbricated; the bracts with coriaceous base and foliaceous or herbaceous loose tips: 



pubescence soft-sericeous and sometimes silvery: leaves of the same Iiue botli sides, all entire, 

 disposed to become vertical by a twist near the sessile base : heads middle-sized or smaller: rays 

 violet: akenes narrow, 8-10-nerved. — Sekiceo-concolores. 



•J— Heads terminating open branches, middle-sized (about half-inch high): involucre loose and 

 foliaceous, of comparatively large bracts; the outermost passing into leaves of the branchlets: 

 leaves mucronate: akenes glabrous. 



A. sericeus, Vext. A foot or two high, paniculately branching : leaves silvery-white with 

 soft silky pubescence, oblong (an inch or less long), or the lowest oblanceolate (3 inches 

 long) : involucre oblong ; foliaceous tips of the bracts from ovate to lanceolate, sericeou.s- 

 .canescent : rays 18 to 25, fnlly half-inch long, rather broad, deep violet. — Hort. Cels. t. 33 ; 

 Pursh, Fl. ii. 348; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. 112. A. argenteus, Michx. Fl. ii. 111. — Prairies and 

 dry banks, Minnesota and Illinois to Tennessee and Texas. 



Var. montanus. Less silvery, merely canescent : leaves commonly narrower : upper 

 leaves and bracts of the shorter involucre sometimes glabrate and villose-ciliate ; approaching 

 the next species. — A. montanus, Nutt. Gen. ii. 155. — In the mountainous district from Bun- 

 combe Co., X. Carolina, to N. W. Georgia. 



A. phyllolepis, Torr. & Gray. More slender and with long simple branches, merely 

 canescent : leaves small ; lower canline inch or more long, oblong ; the branches elliptical to 

 oblong-lanceolate, half to quarter inch long ; uppermost and the large ovate or ovate-lanceo- 

 late foliaceous portion of the involucral bracts cuspidate-acuminate, glabrate, conspicuously 

 hirsute-ciliate : rays less than liaK-iuch long. — Fl. ii. 113. A. sericeus, var. micropliyllus, 



