1218 CARDUACEAE 



entire or crenulate, acute, chiefly with a short strap-like wing broadest at its base ; the slight 

 pubescence becoming a little rough in drying and the leaves spongy-coriaceous ; a very few 

 basal leaves cordate : inflorescence irregular and narrow-oblong or club-shaped, sometimes 

 narrowly pyramidal : heads rather small : rays full violet or purplish violet : bracts linear- 

 acute with the medium-sized tips broad-lanceolate to diamond-form ; scattered capitate 

 glandular hairs are mingled on the stem with dry strigose hair and also with broken down 

 strigose hairs which become irregularly glandular-thickened ; the definitely formed capi- 

 tate glands are colored violet, only slightly thicker than their stiff stub-like stalks. 

 In wood borders, Connecticut and New York to Alabama. Fall. 



40. Aster gracilescens Burgess. Plant thinner and Tes s pubescent, less rough and 

 morethyrsoid than its congener .4. undidatus: stem slender, often 6 dm. high and somewhat 

 arching: leaves quite uniform ; blades large and conspicuous, thin, soft, elongated-lanceo- 

 late, chiefly sessile, 12x4 cm. or less, scantily soft-pubescent, not velvety like A. uvdulatvs, 

 only a little rough when dry, subentire, pale green with paler midrib ; axiles narrow-ovate, 

 rameals oblong-linear or spreading ; cordation of leaf-base and dilation of petiole-base 

 usually little developed ; radicals sagitti form-cordate with acute sinus : inflorescence loose, 

 ovoid or thyrsoid, with distinct pedicels 3 cm. long or less : heads larger and remoter than 

 in its relative A. undulatus: bracts linear-oblong, suddenly acute, the tips chiefly conspicu- 

 ous, short, incurved-triangular-aculeate. 



In half-shade or edges of rich woods, Ithaca, New York, to the Carolinas, where it occurs on balds, 

 quite common and rather showy. Late summer and fall. 



41. Aster laevis L. Stem 6-12 dm. high, usually stout, glabrous, often glaucous, 

 branched or simple : leaf-blades thick and almost leathery, very smooth, entire or serrate, 

 slightly rough-margined, the upper all sessile and strongly cordate-clasping, oblong-lanceo- 

 late, oblanceolate or ovate, acute or obtusish, 2-10 cm. long ; those of the basal and lower 

 cauline leaves gradually narrowed into winged petiolar bases, those of the branches often 

 small and scale-like : heads usually numerous, about 25 mm. broad : involucre campanu- 

 late ; bracts rigid, acute, appressed, broadly green-tipped, imbricated in several series : 

 ray -flowers 15-30 ; ligules blue or violet : pappus tawny : achenes glabrous or nearly so. 

 Remarkable among asters for its smooth, cool, polished surfaces. 



In dry or stony soil, Maine and Ontario, to North Dakota, Georgia, Louisiana and Kansas. Fall. 



42. Aster concfnnus Willd. Similar to narrow-leaved forms of A. laevis in habit, 

 the stem glabrous or sparingly pubescent above, 3-9 dm. high, paniculately branched : leaf- 

 blades light green, lanceolate to linear, entire (or sometimes serrulate), 2-7 cm. long, 

 those of the upper cauline leaves sessile, somewhat clasping, those of the basal and lower 

 cauline leaves spatulate, or oblong, narrowed into margined petiole-like bases : heads 

 usually numerous, about 25 mm. broad : bracts of the involucre with rhomboid acute her- 

 baceous tips : ray-flowers with violet to purple ligules. Resembles A. famsL., but more 

 corymbed, the heads smaller and leaves narrow. 



In open woods or dry soil, Connecticut to North Carolina and Arkansas. Fall. 



43. Aster purpuratus Nees. Stem 4-12 dm. high, slender, glabrous, simple, or 

 branched above, the branches sometimes puberulent : leaf-blades firm, glabrous, dark- 

 green, entire, the upper sessile and clasping at the base, elongated -lanceolate or long-linear, 

 5-12 cm. long, acuminate ; basal and lower cauline leaves petioled, oblong-lanceolate, ob- 

 tusish ; those of the branches very small : heads rather few, loosely racemose, 16-25 mm. 

 broad : involucre campanulate to turbinate : bracts coriaceous, lance-acuminate, appressed, 

 imbricated in several series, the green tips lanceolate : ray-flowers 5-10, their ligules blue 

 or violet, 6-10 mm. long : pappus tawny : achenes glabrous. Resembles A. laevis L. ; but 

 its heads more racemed, apt to be solitary upon long branches, the bracts narrower-tipped, 

 the leaves greatly narrowed, long-linear. 



In dry soil, or open woods, Virginia to Georgia, Texas and Arkansas. Late summer and fall. 



44. Aster attenuates Lindl. Stem glabrous, 6 dm. high or less : leaf-blades very 

 narrowly linear with straight sides almost from the sessile base to the acute apex, very 

 smooth but with hispid re volute margin, 1.5 dm. long or less, about 1 cm. broad, mostly 

 sessile : inflorescence spicate-racemose, attenuate : bracts as in A. purpuratus in form, from 

 which it differs in its leaves, its smaller heads, more narrowed inflorescence of short branches, 

 and somewhat squarrose lower bracts which pass gradually into spreading bractlets on the 

 pedicels. [A. virgatus ~y T. & G.] 



In dry soil. Alabama and Louisiana. Fall. 



45. Aster ursinus Burgess. Stem stout, smooth and glabrous beneath the inflores- 

 cence, very peculiar in the crowded nodes of its base and inflorescence, there 1 cm. or less 

 apart, and in the abruptly remote nodes of the stem between, nearly 10 cm. apart : leaves 



