242 COMPOSITE, (composite family.) 



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

 and Muhlenberg.) 



1. B. giandiflora, Nutt. Nearly 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. (Bi(sA), Kan to 

 Col., New Mex., and westward. 



8. IjIATHIS, Schreb. Button Sn.\kekoot. Blazing-Star. 



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

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

 slender. Achenes slender, tapering to the base, 10-ribbed. Pappus of 1.5-40 

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

 often resinous-dotted, with sim])le 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 tlie name unknown.) 



* Pappus ver I) plumose ; scales of the b-flowered involucre with ovate or lanceolate 

 spreading petal-like {purple or sometimes white) tips, exceeding the flowers. 



1. li. 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 verji plumose ; scales of the cylindrical manijfiowered involucre im- 

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



2. L. squarrosa, Willd. (Blazing-Star, etc.) Often hairy (6' -2° 

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

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

 southAvard. — Var. interm^idia, 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 {^-s' long) ; scales icith short and rounded abruptly mucro- 

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



* * * Pappus very plumose; heads 4-6flowered ; scales acuminate; corolla- 



lobes naked. 



4. L. punctata, Hook. Stout ( 1 - 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. seari6sa, Willd. Stem stout (2-5° high), pubescent or hoary; 

 leaves (smooth, rough, or pubescent) lanceolate ; the lowest oblong-lanceolate or 

 obovate-oblong, tapering into a petiole ; heads few or many, large, 2.5 - 40-flow- 

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

 ous, with dry and scarious often colored tips or margins. — Dry soil, New Eng. 

 to Minn., and southward. — Widely variable; heads P 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 (^' long); scales 



