170 KEY AND FLORA 



the stem. This is common on sand-hills along the coast. (There are 

 many other species quite dissimilar in general appearance.) 



VI. BIGELO'VIA, Rabbit-brush 



Herbs or shrubs with numerous small heads of yellow 

 flowers, without rays. Involucres narrow, with bracts 

 arranged one above the other in rows not always distinct, 

 without green tips. Akenes narrow, usually nerved. Pappus 

 of almost equal bristles. The heads are generally in close com- 

 pound cymes, terminating the stems. 



B. arbores'cens Gray. Shrubby, several feet high, with many erect 

 branches from a woody stem. Leaves linear, almost thread-like, 

 thickly clothing the stems, covered with resinous dots. On dry hills 

 of the Coast Mountains, rarely in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 



Vn. SOLIDA'GO, Golden-rod 



Perennial herbs with erect stems and small heads numerous 

 in panicles. Bracts of the narrow involucre not spreading, 

 in several rows, the outer ones regularly diminishing. Outer 

 flowers with small rays. Pappus in one row, dull white, rough 

 and capillary. 



a. S. Califor'nica Nutt. Stems and leaves hoary and rough to the 

 touch, covered with a flne, close pubescence. Stems from 1 to 3 ft. 

 tall, terminated by the numerous heads of pale-yellow flowers in a 

 close panicle, sometimes pyramidal and more branched. This grows 

 on dry ground, throughout California. 



h. S. spathula'ta DC. Stems and leaves glutinous (sticking to the 

 paper when pressed), dark-green. Stems 1-2 ft. tall, terminated by 

 a spike-like panicle of rather few heads, which are larger than those 

 of the other species. Lower leaves spatulate, rounded at the apex and 

 serrate, 2-4 in. long. This grows near the coast. 



c. S. elonga'ta Nutt. Stems leafy, with thin, lanceolate, serrate 

 leaves, 2-3 in. long. Heads small, in more open panicles than the 

 two preceding. Involucre with linear bracts. This is widely dis- 

 tributed, growing along streams and in gulches. 



Vm. AS'TER 



Perennial herbs with solitary or clustered heads of flowers 

 with rays which are never yellow. The bracts of the involucre 



