260 COMPOSITE, (composite family.) 



28. A. concinnus, Willd. Kot glaucous, slender, 1-3° high; leaves 

 lauceolaf,e, mostly somewhat serrate, the lowest spatulate-lanceolate on winged 

 ]>etioles; heads smaller than in the preceding, naiiieroas,panicled ; rays violet. 

 — Rare ; Penn. and southward. 



■^ -^ Rai/s lohite or turnlnfj jmrpUsh ; scales narrow, suhidaieli) green-tipped; 

 leaves viostlij narroic, narrowed at base, on the branchlets lax and attenuate. 



29. A. polyphyllus, AVilld. Often tall (4 or 5° high), with virgate 

 branches; cauline leaves narrowly lanceolate or linear, 4 or 5' long; heads 

 ])aniculate; scales lanceolate-subulate, the outermost much shorter; rays 4" 

 long. — N. Vt. to Wise, and soutliward. Heads larger and flowering earlier 

 than the next. 



30. A. ericoides, L. Smooth or sparingly hairy (1 -3° high) ; the sim- 

 ple branchlets or peduncles racemose along the upper side of the wand-like 

 spreading branches ; lowest leaves oblong-spatulate, sometimes toothed ; the 

 others linear-lanceolate or linear-awl-shaped ; heads 3" high or less ; involucral 

 scales often nearly equal, Avith attenuate or awl-shaped green tips. : — Dry open 

 places, S. New Eng. to Minn., and southward. — Var. vill6sus, Torr. & Gray, 

 is a hairy form, often with broader leaves ; chiefly in the Western States. — 

 Var. pusf LLus, Gray, is a dwarf slender and glabrous form of the barrens of 

 Lancaster, Penn. (Porter), with very narrow or filiform leaves and very small 

 few-flowered heads. — Var. Pringlei, Gray, a low strict form, witli few erect 

 branches and rather small heads. About Lake Champlain. 



■»- 4- Hoary-pubescent or hirsute; herbaceous tips of the involucral scales squnr- 

 rose or spreading ; cauline leaves small, linear, entire, scarcely narrowed at 

 the sessile or partly clasping base: heads numerous, small, racemose. 



31 . A. amethystinus, Nutt. Tall (2 - 5° high), upright, much branched, 

 puberulent or somewhat hirsute ; leaves not rigid ; heads 3" high, the tips of 

 the scales merely spreading ; rays light clear blue. — Moist grounds, E. Mass. 

 to 111. and Iowa. With the habit of n. 11. 



32. A. multiflorus, Ait. Pale or hoary with minute close pubescence 

 (1° high), much braiiclied and bushy; the heads much crowded on the spread- 

 ing racemose branches; leaves rigid, crowded, spreading, with rough or ciliate 

 margins, the uppermost passing into the spatulate obtuse scales; heads 2 -3" 

 long; rays white or rarely bluisli, 10-20. — Dry sandy soil; common. 



T- ■*- -t- Scales glabrous, closely imbricated {the outer regularly shorter), not cori- 

 aceous, with short appressed green tips ; branches slender, divaricate or diver- 

 gent; leaves lanceolate to subulate ; heads small {2 -S" high) and numerous. 

 •*■*■ Heads scattered, terminating minutely foliose slender branchlets. 



33. A. dumoSUS, L. Smooth or nearly so, 1-3° high; leaves linea. 

 or the upper oblong, crow-ded, entire, with rough margins ; scales linear-spatu- 

 late, obtuse, in 4-6 rows. — Thickets; common. — A variable species, loosely 

 branched, with small leaves, especially the upper, and an obconical or bell- 

 shaped involucre, with more abrupt green tips than any of the succeeding. 

 Rays pale purple or blue, larger than in n. 34. Runs into several peculiar forms. 



++ ++ Heads raceviosely unilateral upon very short minutely leafy branchlets. 



34. A. Vimineus, Lam. Smooth or smoothish, 2-5° high, bushy ; leaves 

 linear or narrowly lanceolate, elongated, the larger ones remotely serrate iu 



