270 COMPOSITAE. 



a loose leafy panicle, the branchlets and involucre glandular; involucre broadly 

 turbinate, the linear bracts in 2 or 3 ranks, the outermost often large and foli- 

 accous; rays violet, 15-25, 10-12 mm. long; akenes pubescent; pappus rigid, 

 somewhat tawny. In open woods, Blue Mountains. 



Aster multiflorus Ait. Erect, 30-90 cm. high, rough pubescent; leaves 

 linear or oblong-linear, entire, acute, sessile or somewhat clasping, rigid, 

 1-3 cm. long or those on the flowering branches much smaller; heads in large 

 panicles, densely crowded, often secund on the spreading branches, nearly 

 sessile; involucres turbinate-campanulate, 3-5 mm. broad, the numerous 

 bracts well imbricated, rough-pubescent and ciliate, their green tips outwardly 

 recurved; rays white, 3-4 mm. long; akenes puberulent; pappus sordid. Dry 

 soil. 



Aster columbianus Piper. Erect, 30-60 cm. high, sparsely rough-pubescent ; 

 leaves not rigid, linear, entire, acute, sessile, 2-6 cm. long, those of the flowering 

 branches much reduced; heads small, usually numerous, in rather loose elon- 

 gated panicles; involucre turbinate, well-imbricated, 5-7 mm. broad, the bracts 

 linear, cuspidate-acute, green and spreading at tip, ciliate except at the apex; 

 rays violet, 6-7 mm. long; akenes canescent; pappus sordid. Rocky banks of 

 streams, rare. 



Aster laevis geyeri Gray. Erect, about 1 m. high, glabrous and somewhat 

 glaucous throughout; leaves ovate, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, acute or 

 obtuse, entire or rarely serrate, 5-15 cm. long, the basal petioled, the cauline 

 sessile or half-clasping by a broad base; inflorescence loosely paniculate or 

 corymbose; involucre turbinate, about 1 cm. broad, the rigid bracts well- 

 imbricated, acute, appressed, green-tipped; rays violet, 8-12 mm. long; akenes 

 glabrous or nearly so; pappus sordid. In gravelly soil especially along streams. 



Aster jessicae Piper. Perennial, tufted, 100-150 cm. high, soft-pilose 

 throughout; basal leaves ovate or oval, acute or acuminate, entire or few- 

 toothed, long-petioled, 6-10 cm. long; cauline broadly lanceolate, acute, 

 entire, narrowed at base into a short broadly-margined petiole or sessile, 

 2-10 cm. long; heads in loose panicles, the peduncles stout, leafy; involucre 

 campanulate, 10-17 mm. broad, the bracts green, lanceolate, acute, softly- 

 pubescent, the lower little shorter, some of them intergrading into the leaves; 

 rays violet, broad, 1 cm. or more long; akenes pubescent; pappus sordid. Low 

 ground. Whitman and Latah Counties, rare. 



Aster foliaceus frondeus Gray. Glabrous or sparsely pubescent; stems 

 stout, erect or ascending, simple or usually with a few branches, 20-60 cm. 

 high; leaves few, the lower large, 8-10 cm. long, oblanceolate, tapering into 

 winged petioles; cauline sessile, broadly half-clasping at the base; heads few, 

 large, 1.5-2.5 cm. broad, usually on naked peduncles; involucre 10-14 mm. 

 hi^h, the bracts herbaceous, linear-lanceolate, loose, all about equalling the 

 the disk, the outer largest; rays dark- violet, about 1 cm. long; akenes not 

 glabrous. Blue Mountains. In moist meadows. 



Aster cusickii Gray. Pale green, glabrous or sparsely pubescent especially 

 in the inflorescence; stems 60-80 cm. high, leafy, branched above; leaves 

 few, thinnish, oblong to oblong-lanceolate, entire, the basal contracted into 

 broad petioles, the cauline half-clasping; inflorescence leafy; heads few, large, 

 12 mm. high, involucral bracts loose and foliaceous, the outer as long as 

 the inner and passing into the leaves; rays pale violet, 10-15 mm. long 

 akenes glabrous. Common in the Blue Mountains, near the limit of trees. 



Aster eatoni (Gray) Howell. Very similar to A. douglasii; leaves nu- 

 merous, firm, entire, 2-4 cm. long; heads smaller, 6-8 cm. high, usually very 

 numerous and subracemose on the branches; bracts green and foliaceous, 

 very unequal, the outer ones passing into the leaves. Edges of fields and 

 along streams in open places. 



