1918 



VERNONIA 



Y O R K *V 



2656. Outline of Vermont. 



Truck gardening is practiced, of course, in the neigh- 

 borhood of all the principal cities; but it cannot be said 

 to be a well-managed business. Those crops which 

 grow in special perfection are beans, potatoes, peas, 

 tomatoes, salsify and parsnips. Those which cannot 

 be grown, or which are, as a rule, unsuccessful, are 

 melons, okra, sweet potatoes, turnips and Lima beans. 

 Special crops which are sometimes grown in quantities 

 for export are seed peas, white beans and onions. 



On account of the long, cold winters and the short, 

 cloudy days of that season, greenhouses are operated at 

 a great disadvantage. The production of hothouse vege- 

 tables is, therefore, very small, and florists find it diffi- 

 cult to grow roses and lilies, or even violets and carna- 

 tions, at a profit. 



The Vermont Horticultural Society was organized 

 December 3, 1896. It is, therefore, a young, though an 

 active and useful society. p t a. Waugh. 



VERNONIA (after Wm. Vernon, an English botanist 

 who traveled in North America). Compdsita. Iron- 

 weed. A genus of nearly 500 species of perennial herbs 

 or rarely shrubs, with alternate, pinnately veined leaves 

 and usually purple or rose flowers borne in the follow- 

 ing species in terminal cymes. The genus is widely 

 scattered about the world, but is possibly most plentiful 

 in South America. The following species are native of 

 the United States, and are hardy perennial herbs of at- 

 tractive appearance, with rather large heads of purple 

 flowers in terminal clusters in late summer or early 

 fall. 



Heads not glomerate, several- to many-fid.: involucre 

 of dry or partly herbaceous, much -imbricated bracts: 

 corolla regularly 5-cleft into narrow lobes: akenes 



mostly 10-costate, with a truncate 

 apex and a cartilaginous, callous 

 base: pappus double (at least in 

 American species). Vernonias are 

 of easy culture in any good, rich 

 border, being easily propagated by 

 division. 



A. Heads 50-70-flowered. 

 Arkansana, DC. Stem 8-10 ft. 



high: lvs. linear-lanceolate, 4-12 in. 

 long, alternate-acuminate: peduncles 

 not branched: involucre green, the 

 filiform tips often reddish. Plains, 

 Mo., Kan. to Texas. Julv-Sept. B. 

 B. 3:302. 



aa. Reads 15-40-fld. 



B. Lvs. narrowly linear. 

 0. Plant about 1 ft. Jiigh. 



Lindheimeri, Gray & Engelm. 

 Stem excessively leafy up to the in- 

 florescence: lvs. lJ^-3 in. long by 

 1-2 lines wide, with revolute mar- 

 gins : fls. in a corymbiform cvme. 

 July-Sept. Rocky hills, W. Texas. 



CC. Plant 8-4 ft. high. 

 Lettermani, Engelm. Stem fas- 

 tigiately and cymosely much 

 branched at the summit: lvs. 2-4 

 in. long, only 1 line wide, margins 

 not revolute: fl. -heads numerous, 

 K in. long, 10-14-lld. July-Sept. 

 Sandy soil, Arkansas. 



bb. Lvs. not narrowly linear. 

 c. Bracts of involucre tipped with 

 slender awns. 

 Noveboracensis, Willd. Fig. 2657. 

 Stem 3-6 ft. : lvs. oblong to oblong- 

 lanceolate, 3-9 in. long: heads in an 

 open cyme : involucre commonly 

 brownish or dark purplish : Hs. 

 rarely white, usually in moist soil. 

 July-Sept. B.B. 3:302. -The more 

 common species of the eastern 

 United States. 



cc. Bracts not owned. 



D. Plant tomentose. 



Baldwini, Torr. Stem 2-5 ft. high: lvs. lanceolate to 



ovate-lanceolate, 4-8 in. long: bracts greenish acute or 



acuminate, tips spreading or reflexed. Fls. earlier than 



most species, in July and 



Prairies, 

 to Tex. 



■^life 



August, 

 ern Mo. 

 3:302. 



DD. Plant glabrous. 

 E. Lvs. thin. 



altissima, Nutt. Stem 

 5-10 ft. high: lvs. veiny 

 lanceolate or lanceolate- 

 oblong, 4-12 in. long : 

 bracts obtuse or merely 

 mucronate-tipped, 

 closely appressed. July- 

 Sept. Western Pa. to 

 111., La. and Fla. B.B. 

 3:303. 



E. Lvs. thickish. 



fasciculata, M i c h x . 

 Stem 2-5 ft. high: lvs. 

 somewhat obscurely 

 veined, linear to oblong- 

 lunceolate, 3-6 in. long: 

 heads numerous and 

 crowded on the branches 

 of the cyme: bracts ob- 

 tuse or some of the upper mucronate-acute, closely ap- 

 pressed. July-Sept. Ohio and Ky. to the Dakotas and 

 south to Texas. B.B. 3:303. p. w. Barclay. 



2657. Isolated specimen clump 

 of Ironwee d — Vernonia 

 Noveboracensis. 



