302 COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 



mostly deltoid, roughish ; the lower variously 3 - 7-lobed, on margined petioles ; 

 the upper oblong-lanceolate, mostly undivided, nearly sessile ; involucre (green- 

 ish, rarely purplish, sometimes slightly bristly) of about 8 scales, 8-12-flow- 

 ered ; flowers purplish, greenish white, or cream-color. (Nabalus Fraseri, DC.) 



Dry sandy or sterile soil, New Eug. to Va., and southward. 



Var. nana, Gray. Stem more simple and strict, 6-16' high, smooth and 

 glabrous; inflorescence contracted, the clusters often sessile in most of the 

 axils. (Nabalus iiauus, DC.) Mountains of northern N. Eng. and N. Y., 

 and northeastward. 



8. P. altissima, L. Smooth ; stem tall and slender (3 - 7 high) ; the 

 heads in small axillary and terminal loose clusters forming a long and wand- 

 like leafy panicle ; leaves mernbranaceous, 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 slen- 

 der (greenish), of 5 scales, 5 -6-flowered. (Nabalus, Hook.) Rich moist 

 woods; N. Eug. to Minn., and southward in the mountains to Ga. 



i- -i- Involucre campanulate-oblong ; secondary basal scales 2-3, linear, loose. 



9. P. Boottii, Gray. Stem simple, dwarf (5-6' 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, taper- 

 ing into a margined petiole ; involucre (livid) 10-18-flowered, the proper scales 

 10- 15, very obtuse; pappus straw-color. Alpine region, mountains of Maine, 

 N. H., and N. New York. 



92. LYGODESMIA, Don. 



Heads and flowers (5-10) nearly as in Nabalus; the cylindrical involucre 

 more elongated, and the achenes long and slender, tapering at the summit; 

 pappus whitish. Smooth, often glaucous, low perennials, with single erect 

 heads of rose-purple flowers terminating almost leafless or rush-like stems or 

 branches. (Name composed of \v-yos, a pliant tiviy, and SeV/ur?, a bundle, from 

 the fascicled twiggy or rush-like stems.) 



1. L. jlincea, Don. Stems (1 high) tufted, branched, striate ; lower leaves 

 lance-linear, 1-2' long, rigid, the upper awl-shaped and minute , heads 5-flow- 

 ered. St. Croix River, Wise., to Kan., and westward. July. 



93. TROXIMON, Nutt. 



Head large, solitary, many-flowered. Scales of the bell-shaped involucre 

 ovate or lanceolate, pointed, loosely imbricated in 2 or 3 rows. Achenes 

 smooth, 10-ribbed, with distinct beak <>r none; pappus longer than the achene, 

 white, of copious and unequal rigid capillary bristles. Perennial scapose 

 herbs, with elongated linear tufted root-leaves, and yellow flowers. (Name 

 probably from rpwyca, to c/ieu~, of no obvious application.) 



1. T. cuspidatum, Pursh. Scape 1 high, from a thickened caudex, 

 leaves lanceolate, elongated, tapering to a sharp point, entire, woolly on the 

 margins ; scales of the involucre lanceolate, sharp-pointed , acheue beakless 



Prairies, Wise., N. 111., and westward. April, May. 



