COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 249 



vowded in compart short racemes forming a prolonged and dense narrower 

 pyramidal panicle; scales linear-awl-shaped, appressed; rays about 10. 

 Sandy soil, Maine to Va. and southward, mostly near the coast. 

 = 3. Heads middle-sized, in a thyrsoid panicle ; involucral scales rather firm, 



obtuse ; leaves entire or little serrate, smooth. 



16. S. uliginbsa, Nutt. Smooth nearly throughout ; stem simple, strict 

 (2-3 high); leaves lanceolate, pointed, the lower tapering into winged peti- 

 oles, partly sheathing at the base, sparsely serrulate or entire; racemes murk 

 crowded and appressed in a dense wand-like panicle ; scales linear-oblong ; rays 

 5-6, small. (S. stricta, Man. ) Peat-bogs, Maine to Penn., Minn., and north- 

 ward. Root-leaves 6-10' long. Flowers earlier than most species, beginning 

 in July. 



17. S. specidsa, Xutt. Stem stout (3 - 6 high), smooth ; leaves thickish, 

 smooth with rough margins, oval or ovate, slightly serrate, the uppermost ob- 

 long-lanceolate, the lower contracted into a margined petiole ; heads somewhat 

 crowded in numerous erect racemes, forming an ample pyramidal or thyrsiform 

 panicle ; peduncles and pedicels rough-hairy ; scales of the cylindrical involucre 

 oblong ; rays about 5, large. Var. ANGUSTATA, Torr. & Gray, is a dwarf form, 

 with the racemes short and clustered, forming a dense interrupted or compound 

 spike. Copses, Maine to Minn., and southward. A very handsome species; 

 the lower leaves 4-6' long and 2-4' wide in the larger forms. 



= 4. Heads very small in slender spreading secund clusters forming a mostly 

 short and broad panicle ; leaves entire or nearly so. 



18. S. Od6ra, Ait. (SWEET GOLDEN-ROD.) Smooth or nearly so through- 

 out; stem slender (2-3 high), often reclined; leaves linear-lanceolate, entire, 

 shining, pellucid-dotted ; racemes spreading in a small one-sided panicle ; rays 

 3-4, rather large. Border of thickets in dry or sandy soil, Maine and Vt. to 

 Ky., and southvvard. The crushed leaves yield a pleasant anisate odor ; but 

 an occasional form is nearly scentless. 



19. S. tortifolia, Ell. Stem scabrous-puberulent, 2-3 high; leaves 

 linear, short, commonly twisted, roughish-puberulent or glabrate ; rays very 

 short. Dry soil, coast of Va. and southward. 



20. S. pildsa, Walt. Stem stout, upright (3 - 7 high), clothed with spread- 

 ing hairs; leaves oblong-lanceolate, rotighish, hairy beneath, at least on the mid- 

 rib, serrulate, the upper ovate-lanceolate or oblong and entire, closely sessile ; 

 racemes many, recurved, in a dense pyramidal panicle ; rays 7-10, very short. 

 Low grounds, pine barrens of N. J. to Va. and southward. 



= 5. Heads small or middle-sized, racemose/ // paniculate; leaves broad or amp/r, 

 veiny, at least the lower serrate (or entire in n. 28) ; involucral scales obtuse. 



21. S. patula, Muhl. Stem strongly angled, smooth (2 -4 high); leaves 

 (4 - 8' long) ovate, acute, serrate, pale, very smooth and veiny underneath, but 

 the upper surface very rough, like shagreen ; racemes rather short and numer- 

 ous on the spreading branches ; heads rather large. Swamps ; common. 



22. S. TUgbsa, Mill. Hough-hairy, especially the very leafy stem (1-6 

 high) ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, elliptical or oblong, often thiclcish and very rugose; 

 racemes spreading ; involucral scales linear ; rays 6 -9; the disk-flowers 4-7. 

 (S. altissima, Ton: $ Gray, not L.) Borders of fields and copses ; very com- 



