1220 CAEDUACEAE 



both bracts and pedicels canescent or even white with loose webby hair : rays dark violet ; 

 bract-tips diamond-form to deltoid. 



In dry soil, Kansas to Mississippi and Texas. Summer and fall. 



50. Aster patens Ait. Stem 3-9 dm. tall, slender, rough, divergently branched : 

 leaf-blades sessile, ovate-oblong or oval, rough-pubescent, thick and somewhat rigid, 

 strongly auriculate-clasping at the broad base, entire, acute, or the lower ones obtuse, 

 2.5-7.5 cm. long, those of the branches much smaller and bract-like, their margins rough- 

 ciliate : heads 25 mm. broad or more, solitary at the ends of the branches : involucres 

 campanulate ; bracts linear-oblong, finely pubescent or scabrous, often somewhat glandu- 

 lar, imbricated, their green acute tips spreading : ray -flowers 20-30 ; ligules purplish- 

 blue or deep violet, 8-12 mm. long : pappus tawny : achenes pubescent. 



In dry open places, Massachusetts to Minnesota, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Summer and fall. 



51. Aster tenuicaulis (C. Mohr) Burgess. Resembles A. patens; but its branches 

 long and slender, flagelliform and diffuse when well developed : leaves and heads smaller : 

 pedicels longer, often 1-4 cm. : bracts and their tips much .narrower, narrowly linear ; 

 bractlets mucronate-acute, catenate or forming a chain-like series along the pedicels, ap- 



Sessed or slightly spreading. [A. patens var. gracilis Hook. A. patens tenuicaulis C. 

 ohr.1 



In dry soil, Georgia to Texas and Oklahoma. Summer and fall. 



52. Aster subsessilis Burgess. Stem strong, erect, with several or many long 

 parallel subhorizontal divaricate branches : leaves as in A. patens, but with obovate radi- 

 cals and some obovate middle caulines ; and many heads short-pedicelled, sessile and 

 secund ; axile leaves very short and broad, pale ; bracteals oval-oblong to lanceolate : 

 heads nearly as in A. patens, with broad and nearly sessile base : peduncles usually only 0.5 

 cm. long : bracts very broad, short, bluntly rounded, puberulent, not ciliate nor glandu- 

 lar. Differs from A. patens especially in its bracts and its secund subsessile heads. 



On plains or prairies, Missouri and Arkansas : also in Alabama. Fall. 



53. Aster pblogif olius Muhl. Similar to A. patens in habit, but when well devel- 

 oped much taller, more slender and soft : leaves larger ; blades lanceolate to oblong- 

 lanceolate, entire, thin or membranous, acuminate at the apex, strongly auriculate, clasping 

 at the base, roughish above, pubescent beneath, usually narrowed below the middle, some- 

 times 15 cm. long : heads usually numerous, 3-5 cm. broad, panicled or somewhat race- 

 mose on the branches : involucre campanulate ; bracts lanceolate, glabrate, rather loose, 

 with herbaceous tips : ray-flowers numerous ; ligules purple-blue. Resembles A. patens 

 Ait. ; but softer and taller ; heads larger ; inflorescence narrow ; leaves elongated. 



In woods and thickets, New York to Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee. Later summer and fall. 



54. Aster oblongif olius Nutt. Stem much branched, 3-7 dm. high, hirsute-pubes- 

 cent, smooth with age, the branches divaricate or ascending ; leaves numerous, often 

 crowded ; blades oblong or oblong-lanceolate, sessile by a broad or slightly clasping base, 

 usually rigid, entire or mucronulate at the apex, rough or hispidulous on both sides, 

 rough margined, those of the stem 3-5 cm. long, 4-8 mm. wide, those of the branches 

 gradually smaller : heads corymbose, nearly 25 mm. broad : involucre hemispheric ; bracts 

 much imbricated, glandular-aromatic, linear or linear-oblong, the acute green tips 

 spreading : ray-flowers 20-30 ; ligules violet-purple, rarely rose-pink, 6-10 mm. long : 

 pappus becoming light brown : achenes canescent. 



On prairies and bluffs, Pennsylvania to Minnesota, Nebraska, Virginia, Tennessee, and Texas. 

 Summer and fall. 



55. Aster Kumleinii Fries. Plant resembling^, oblongif olius, but low, chiefly 3 dm. 

 high, with fastigiate bushy top of numerous subcorymbose branches, paler, harsher and 

 more rigid, smaller in all its parts, and much less pubescent : bracts looser and continued 

 into investing bractlets below. Stem brown, brittle, terete : leaves hispidulous ; blades 

 oblong to linear, 4 cm. long, or less, obtuse or rounded at apex : inflorescence decompound : 

 heads 2 cm. broad or less : rays violet-blue ; outer bracts recurvate, with much green tissue, 

 their green tips linear-spatulate ; bracteals uniform, decurved, linear ; glands very short- 

 stalked ; strigose pubescence little developed, all surfaces short-scabrous or hirtellous, or 

 the stem finally glabrate. 



In dry exposed places,' Wisconsin to Alabama, Colorado and Texas. Summer and fall. 



56. Aster Novae- Angliae L. Stem stout, 6-25 dm. high, hispid-pubescent, corym- 

 bosely branched above, very leafy : leaf-blades oblong-lanceolate, entire, acute, pubescent, 

 5-12 cm. long, 12-25 mm. wide, each clasping by an auriculate base : heads numerous, 

 3-5 cm. broad, clustered at the ends of the branches : involucre hemispheric ; bracts linear- 

 subulate, somewhat unequal, green, spreading, pubescent and more or less glandular-viscid i 



