780 < MMposiTAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 



Flowers bright yellow to deep orange-red. 

 Achenes beaked. 



Acheues 10-ribbed 102. Agoaeris. 



Achenes 4-5-ribbed 103. 



Achenes not beakod. 

 Pappus white. 



Leaves entire 102. 



Leaves toothed or runcinate-pinnatifid .... 104. Creju's. 

 Pappus tawny IOC. Ilieracium. 



1. VERNdNIA Schreb. IRONWEED 



Heads discoid, 16-many-flowered, in corymbose cymes ; flowers perfect ; in- 

 volucre shorter than the flowers, of much imbricated bracts. Achenes cylin- 

 drical, ribbed ; pappus double, the outer of minute scale-like bristles, the inner 

 of copious capillary bristles. Perennial herbs, with leafy steins, alternate 

 acuminate or very acute serrate leaves and mostly purple (rarely white) flowers. 

 (Named for William Vernon, an early English botanist, who traveled in North 

 America. ) 



Involucral bracts tipped with long filiform spreading appendages. 



Heads large, mostly (JO-SO-flowered; involucre 1.4-2 cm. in diameter . 1. V.crinUa. 

 Heads smaller, usually about 40-flowered ; involucre about 1 cm. in 

 diameter. 



Pappus purple or at least purplish-tinged 2. V. noveboracensis. 



Pappus cream-colored or stramineous 8. V. glauca. 



Involucral bracts obtuse, acute, or acuminate, but not conspicuously 



caudate. 

 Lower surface of the leaves smooth or merely puberulent. 



Cyme dense, fastigiate 4. V. fasciculata. 



Cyme open and loose, the branches wide-spreading . . . . 5. V. altissima. 

 Lower surface of the leaves tomentulose. 

 Involucral bracts obtuse to acute, appressed or nearly so. 



Pappus purple 6. V. illinoensis. 



Pappus tawny 7. V- miDfturica. 



Involucral bracts with acuminate more or less squarrose tips . . 8. V. Baldicini. 



1. V. crinita Raf. Tall, nearly glabrous ; leaves linear-lanceolate, retrorsely 

 denticulate; heads large, usually QO-SQ-floicered ; involucre very squarrose, the 

 bracts with long filiform tips. (V. arkansana DC.) Mo., Kan., and south w. 



2. V. noveborac'Snsis Willd. Rather tall (1-2 in.) ; leaves long-lanceolate 

 to lance-oblong, more or less pubescent beneath, irradually narrowed but not 

 at all acuminate toward the base ; cyme open ; heads mostly 30-40-jfow/v,/ ; 

 involucre purplish (or in white-flowered individuals green), campanulate ; the 

 bracts ovate or lance-ovate, with loosely ascending or recurvecl-spreading fili- 

 form tips ; pappus purple or purplish. Low ground near the coast, Mass, to 

 Va. and Miss.; reported from Pelee I., L. Erie (Macoun}. 



3. V. glauca (L.) Willd. Similar to the preceding; leaves mostly broader, 

 ovate-lanceolate, contracted at the base to an acuminately winged petiolar 

 portion, paler and tending to be more loosely pubescent on the nerves beneath ; 

 involucral bracts mostly with shorter filiform tips ; pappus cream-colored or 

 stramineous. ( V. noveboracensis, var. latifolia Gray.) Pa. to Ga. and Ala. 



4. V. fasciculata Michx. Leaves ascending, narrow, linear to oblong -lanceo- 

 late, green and nearly glabrous beneath; heads rather small, about 20-flowered, 

 many, crowded, in a fastigiate cyme ; involucral bracts closely appressed, obtuse 

 or the uppermost merely mucronate ; achenes mostly smooth as seen with an 

 ordinary lens ; flowers reddish-purple. Prairies, O. to Minn., Neb., and Okla. 



6. V. altissima Nutt. Usually tall (1-2 or more in. high) ; Ztwv-.s 1nnri>- 

 oblong, acuminate, spreading, smooth or merely pul>< rnh-nt beneath; cyan- 

 large, widely spreading, rather loose; heads about 2o-flowered ; involucral 

 bracts closely appressed, ovate, acute, obtuse, or cuspidate, mostly purple-tinged ; 

 flowers red-purple. (V. maxima Small.) Rich soil of prairies, etc., N. Y. to 

 Mich., Mo., and south w. ; also sporadic northeastw. 



<>. V. illinoSnsis Gleason. Tall and rather stout ; leaves large, oblong- 

 lanceolate, acuminate, tomentulose and slightly scabrous beneath ; heads 

 medium-sized, about 40 (lowered, sessile or shortly and stoutly pediceled in a 



