242 COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 



often all opposite. (Dr. John Brickell of Georgia, correspondent of Elliott 

 and Muhlenberg.) 



1. B. grandifibra, Nutt. Nearl y glabrous, 2 - 3 high; leaves deltoid, 

 cordate, the upper deltoid-lanceolate, coarsely dentate-serrate, acuminate, 4' 

 long or less; heads about 40-flowered. Shannon Co., Mo. (Bush), Kan to 

 Col., New Mex., and westward. 



8. LIATRIS, Schreb. BUTTON SNAKEROOT. BLAZING-STAR. 



Head discoid, few - many-flowered ; flowers perfect. Involucral scales well 

 imbricated, appressed. Keceptacle naked. Corolla 5-lobed, the lobes long and 

 slender. Achenes slender, tapering to the base, 10-ribbed. Pappus of 15-40 

 capillary bristles, manifestly plumose or only barbellate. Perennial herbs, 

 often resinous-dotted, with simple stems from a roundish corm or tuber, rigid 

 alternate narrow entire leaves (sometimes twisted so as to become vertical), 

 and spicate or racemed heads of handsome rose-purple flowers, appearing late 

 in summer or in autumn. (Derivation of the name unknown.) 



* Pappus very plumose ; scales of the ^-flowered involucre ivith ovate or lanceolate 

 spreading petal-like (purple or so?netimes ichite) tips, exceeding the flowers. 



1. L. elegans, Willd. Stem (2-3 high) and involucre hairy; leaves 

 linear, short and spreading; spike or raceme compact (3-20' long). Barren 

 soil, Va. and southward. 



* * Pappus very plumose; scales of the cylindrical many-flowered involucre im- 

 bricated in many rows, the tips rigid, not pclal-like ; corolla-lobes hairy within. 



2. L. squarrosa, Willd. (BLAZING-STAR, etc.) Often hairy (6' -2 

 high) ; leaves rigid, linear, elongated ; heads usually few (!' long) ; scales mostly 

 with elongated and leaf-like spreading tips. Dry soil, Penn. to Minn., and 

 southward. Var. INTERMEDIA, DC. Heads narrow ; scales shorter, erect or 

 nearly so. Ont. to Neb. and Tex. 



3. L. cylindracea, Michx. Commonly smooth (6-18' high); leaves 

 linear; heads few (-' long) ; scales with short and rounded abruptly mucro- 

 nate appressed tips. Dry open places, Niagara Falls to Minn, and Mo. 



* * # Pappus very plumose; heads 4-G-Jlowered ; scales acuminate; corolla- 



loles naked. 



4. L. punctata, Hook. Stout ( 10-30' high), from a branching or globose 

 rootstock; leaves narrowly linear or the upper acerose, rigid; heads usually 

 many in a dense spike. Minn to Kan., and southward. 



* * * Pappus not obviously plumose to the naked eye ; corolla-lobes smooth inside. 



5. L. scari6sa, Willd. Stem stout (2 - 5 high), pubescent or hoary ; 

 leaves (smooth, rough, or pubescent) lanceolate ; the lowest oblong-/a?iceolafe or 

 obovate-oblong, tapering into a petiole ; heads few or many, large, 25 - 40-flow- 

 ered; scales of the broad or depressed involucre obovate orspatulate, very numer- 

 ous, with dry and scarious of ten colored tips or margins. Dry soil, New Eng. 

 to Minn., and southward. Widely variable; heads 1' or less in diameter. 



6. L. pycnostachya, Michx. Hairy or smoothish ; stem stout (3 - 5 

 high), very leafy ; leaves linear-lanceolate, the upper very narrowly linear ; 

 spike thick and dense (6 -20' long); heads about 5-flowered (5 long); scales 



