CARDUACEAE 1225 



In dry or moist soil, Nova Scotia to Ontario, North Carolina and Alabama to Arkansas, Louisiana 

 and Texas. Late summer and fall. The following forms are distinguishable : A. lateriflorus glom- 

 erellus (T. & G.) Burgess: chiefly unbranched ; leaves hispidulous above, oblong-lanceolate, dull 

 green, the teetn very sharp and straight ; heads glomerate in the axils or spicate above, or scattered 

 upon short branches. Woodlands, New York to North Carolina. A. lateriflorus thyrsoldeus (A. Gray) 

 Sheldon : ashy-pubescent ; leaves ovate to lanceolate ; branches ascending, bearing crowded or thyr- 

 soid-paniculate heads. Open thickets, New York and Ontario to Illinois and Tennessee. A. lateriflo- 

 rus horizontdlis (Desf.) Burgess: branches long, divaricate or widely spreading ; leaves firm, subsuc- 

 culent, those of the branches very small, mostly entire ; heads very numerous. Southern New York 

 to Virginia and Arkansas. A. lateriflorus pendulus (Ait.) Burgess: leaves narrower, linear-elliptic, 

 conspicuously drooping, remotely appressed-serrulate ; branches long, slender, horizontal or becoming 

 pendulous ; heads long-peduncled. Thickets, New York to North Carolina and Alabama. 



81. Aster hirsuticaulis Lindl. Stem 4-9 dm. tall, slender, erect, pubescent, nearly 

 or quite to the base ; branches usually short, spreading or ascending : leaf-blades thin, gla- 

 brous above, usually densely pubescent on the midvein beneath, serrate with a few appressed 

 teeth, or entire, of linear type, sometimes 15 cm. long, sessile or the basal ones spatulate 

 and petioled : heads more or less secund on the branches, chiefly loosely clustered, often 

 also solitary or few in the lower axils : involucre narrow ; bracts of the involucre in 3 or 4 

 series, linear-lanceolate, acuminate or acute : ray-flowers several, white ; ligules about 4 

 mm. long, narrow. Unlike A. lateriflorus in its hirsute stem and its long linear straight- 

 sided leaf -blades which are hirsute on the midrib beneath. 



In woods and thickets, Maine to Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Late summer and fall. 



82. Aster spatelliformis Burgess. Stem much branched, glabrous, 6 dm. high 

 or more : leaf-blades dull green and crenate, thickish r glabrous, the upper surface usually 

 finely impressed with reticular veins: leaf -form suggesting a small rounded spatula, 

 oval with a rounded apex, tapering into a short entire cuneate-winged petiole ; basal and 

 rameal leaves as well as cauline all of nearly the same type, 5x3 cm. or less ; the axiles 

 half as large and oval-oblong, with a short cuneate base ; the rameals half as large as the 

 axiles, but very uniform, numerous and characteristic : heads small, scattered along the 

 prolonged or sarmentose branches, usually short-pedicelled : bracts rigid, linear, with 

 whitish sides and acute apex, the narrow dark green tips lance-triangular. Differs from A. 

 lateriflorus in leaf-form, etc. 



Near swamps, Jacksonville, Florida. Fall. 



83. Aster ericoides L. Stem 3-9 dm. tall, glabrous or very nearly so, paniculately 

 branched, usually bushy, the branches racemose, and the branchlets often somewhat secund : 

 leaf-blades firm or rigid, those of the basal leaves spatulate, obtuse, dentate, narrowed into 

 margined petioles, glabrous or ciliate, those of the cauline leaves narrowly linear, acute, 

 entire, 2-7 cm. long, those of the branches linear-subulate, numerous : heads usually very 

 numerous, 8-12 mm. broad: involucre campanulate to hemispheric; bracts coriaceous, 

 closely appressed, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, abruptly acute or acuminate, green-tipped, 

 imbricated in about 3 series : ray-flowers 15-25 ; ligules white, or purplish-tinged : pappus 

 white : achenes finely pubescent. 



In dry soil, Maine and Ontario to Wisconsin, Florida and Kentucky. Fall and winter. The fol- 

 lowing forms are distinguishable: A. ericoides pilosus (Willd.) Porter: stem, branches and often the 

 leaves villous-hirsute ; leaf-blades linear-lanceoate. Ontario to Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia 

 and Mississippi, Minnesota and Missouri. Spreading as a weed in cultivated soil, Ohio to Illinois. A. 

 ericoides platyphyllus T. & G. densely villous-hirsute ; blades of the stem-leaves much broader, lan- 

 ceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 2-5 cm. long. Indiana to North Carolina and Georgia. A. ericoides Ree- 

 v&sii A. Gray : rigid, stout, nearly glabrous ; heads and rays larger; bracts and their lanceolate green 

 tips apt to be falcately one-sided. Tennessee. 



84. Aster juniperinus Burgess. Stem robust, brittle, glabrous, pale brown, about 6 

 dm. high, the branches numerous, prolonged, chiefly horizontal and parallel, sometimes 4 

 dm. long: cauline leaves dull green; blades thin, linear-biacuminate, 10x1 cm.; rameal 

 and ramular leaves subulate and all nearly alike, wide-spreading, juniper-like, greatly 

 reduced and very numerous and crowded, diminishing rapidly on the elongated pedicels 

 and passing insensibly into the small spreading green outer bracts of the broad hemispheri- 

 cal head ; the other bracts longer and broader, linear with triangular-acuminate summit, 

 coriaceous and very smooth, bright white except the broadly deltoid sharp-angled green 

 tip : heads small : rays white : disk turning reddish brown. Unlike its congener A. eri- 

 coides in its numerous heads solitary on long branches or branchlets. Unlike A. Faxoni in 

 its tendency to divaricate, not corymbose, branching. 



In loose sandy soil, in the sun, Maryland to Alabama. Late summer and fall. 



85. Aster Faxoni Porter. Stem 6-15 dm. high, glabrous throughout, paniculately 

 or corymbosely branched, rather stout : cauline leaves various ; blades lanceolate or linear- 

 lanceolate, 5-12 cm. long, acute, or acuminate, narrowed to a sessile base or those of the 

 lower ones into margined petioles, entire or nearly so, firm, those of the branches gradual ly 

 smaller : basal leaves with oblong to spatulate, obtuse, dentate blades : heads 12-18 mm. 

 broad : involucre hemispheric, nearly 8 mm. high ; bracts linear-lanceolate, acute or subu- 



