238 COMPOSITE. (composite family.) 



# Involucre, smooth or nearly so, 5 - 12-foivered. 



1. N. uElms, Hook. (White Lettuce. Rattlesnake-root.) 

 Smooth and glaucous (2° -4° high); stem corymbose-panicled at the summit: 

 leaves angulate or triangular-halberd-form, sinuate-toothed, or 3-5-cleft; the 

 uppermost oblong and undivided; involucre (purplish ) of about 8 scales, 8 — 12- 

 flowered; pappus deep cinnamon-color. — Var. Serpentaria is a form with deep- 

 ly divided leaves, their margins often rough-ciliate. — Borders of woods, in rich 

 soil; common, especially northward. Aug. — Stouter and more corymbed than 

 the next, with thickish leaves and often purplish branches. Heads £' long. 



2. N. aitissinius, Hook. (Tall White Lettuce.) Smooth; stem 

 tall and slender (3° -6° high) ; the heads in small axillary and terminal loose 

 clusters forming a long and wand-like leafy panicle ; leaves membranaceous, all 

 petioled, ovate, heart-shaped or triangular, and merely toothed or cleft, with 

 naked or winged petioles, or frequently 3 - 5-parted, with the divisions entire or 

 again cleft; involucre slender (greenish), of 5 scales, h- ^-flowered; pappus dirty 

 white, or pale straw-color. — Rich moist woods; common, especially northward. 

 Aug., Sept. 



3. N. Fi'iESeri, DC. (Lion's-foot. Gall-of-tiie-eakth.) Nearly 

 smooth ; stem corymbost -panich d at the summit ( 1° - 4° high ) ; leaves mostly del- 

 toid, roughish ; the lower variously 3 - 7-lobed, on margined petioles ; the upper 

 oblong-lanceolate, mostly undivided, nearly sessile ; involucre (greenish or pur- 

 plish, sometimes slightly bristly) of about 8 scales, 8-12-flowt-ml : pappus dull 

 straw-color. — Varies greatly in foliage: the var. integrifolius has the thick- 

 ish leaves all undivided and merely toothed. — Dry sandy or sterile soil, S. New 

 England to Virginia and southward. Sept. 



4. IV. El£.SBUS, DC. Smooth; stem low and simple (5' -10' high); the 

 heads in axillary clusters forming a narrow raccmed panicle; leaves triangular- 

 halberd -shaped and very variously lobed or cleft, on slender petioles ; involucre 

 (livid) 10- 13-fowere.d, of about 8 proper scales and several very short bract-like ones, 

 which are triangular-ovate and oppressed; pappus dark straw-color. — Alpine 

 summits of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and Mount Marcy, New 

 York. Aug. - Oct. 



5. N. Bosnia, DC. Stem simple, dwarf (V- 6' high), pubescent at the 

 summit ; the heads in an almost simple raceme ; lowest leaves halberd-shaped 

 or heart-shaped, the middle oblong, the upper lanceolate, nearly entire, tapering 

 into a margined petiole; involucre (livid) 10 - 18-flowered, of 10- 15 very obtuse 

 proper scales, and several linear and loose exterior ones nearly half the length of the 

 former; pappus straw-color. — Higher alpine summits of the mountains of 

 Maine, New Hampshire, and N. New York. Aug. 



6. N. virgffitus, DC. (Slender Rattlesnake-root.) Smooth, 

 slightly glaucous; stem very simple (2° -4° high) ; produced above into a naked 

 and slender spiked raceme (U°- 2° long), the heads clustered and mostly unilat- 

 eral ; leaves lanceolate, acute, closely sessile, the upper reduced to bracts, the 

 lower toothed or pinnatifid; involucre (purplish) of about 8 scales, 8-12-fowered; 

 pappus straw-color. — Sandy pine barrens, New Jersey to Virginia, and south- 

 ward Sept. 



