240 comi'OsityE. (composite family.) 



serrate, veiny; disk-flowers 16-24, the rays 12- 16. — Rocky and wooded 

 hills, Maine and W. Vermont to renn.sylvania, and the mountains of Virginia : 

 rather rare. 



§2. VIllGAiniEA, Toiirn. Soilis of the involucre destitiUe of herlxtceous tiys: 

 rai/.i moAtly fewer than the disL-Jioweis : /leads dl more or hss pedict-lled. 

 * III (ids clustered in the axils of the ftutlier-veintd leaves. 

 2. S. bicolor, L. Uoarjj or (jrnylsh with soft, hairs ; stem mostly simple ; 

 leaves obloii"- or elliptical-lanceolate, acute at both ends, or the lower oval ami 

 tapering into a petiole, slightly serrate; cinders or short racemes Jiom the axils of 

 the upper /taws, forming an interrujjted spike or crowded panicle; rai/s small, 

 cream-color or jiearli/ white. — Var. concolok has the rat/s yellow. — Dry copses 

 and hanks : the var. in Pennsylvania and westward. 

 f^.i^a^ ■"'-''' C^- ^- latif61ia, L. Smooth or nearly so, stem angled, zigzag, simple or 

 ^i^^^-- ''paniculate-branched (l°-30 high) ; leaves broadly orate or oval, very strongly and 

 sharply serrate, conspicuously pointed at both ends (thin, 3' -6' long) ; heads in very 

 short axillary clusters, or somewhat prolonged at the end of the branches. — 

 Moist shaded banks : common northward, and along the mountains. 



4. S. Cii&sia, h. Smooth ; stein terete, mostly glaucous, at length much 

 branched and diffuse ; leaves lanceolate or ohlong-lanceolatc, serrate, pointed, 

 sessile ; heads in very short clusters, or somewhat racemose-paniclcd on the 

 branches. — Moist rich woodlands : common. 



* * Racemes terminal, erect, either somewhat simple and wand-like, or compound and 



panided, not one-sided : leaves father-veined. (Not maritime.) 



1- Heads small : leaves nearly entire, except the lowermost. 



5. S. virgkta, Michx. ^'<■ry smooth throw^hout; .stem strict and simple, wand- 

 like (2° -4° high), slender, beset with small and entire appressed lanceolate-ob- 

 long thickish leaves, which are gradually reduced upwards to mere bracts ; the 

 lowest oblong-spatulate ; heads crowded in a very narrow compound spicate raceme ; 

 rays .'3-7. — Diimp pine barrens, New Jersey and southward. 



6. S. puberula, Nutt. Stem (l°-3° high, simple or branched) and pan- 

 icle minutely hoary ; s/em-leares lanceolate, acute, tapering to the base, snioothish ; the 

 lower wedge-lanceolate and sparingly toothed; heads very numerous and crowded 

 in compact short racemes forming a prolonged and dense narrow or ])yramidal {xinicle ; 

 scales of the involucre linear-awl-shaped, appressed; rays about 10. — Sandy soil, 

 Maine to Virginia and southward, near the coast. 



7. S. striata, Ait. Very smooth throughout; • stem simple, strict (2° -3° 

 high) ; leaves lanceolate, pointed, the lower tapering into winged petioles, partly 

 sheathing at the base, minutely serrate above with appressed teeth ; racemes much 

 crowded and ai)pre.^sed in a di-nse wand-like panicle; scales of the involucre linear- 

 oblong, obtuse; rays .5-0, small. — Peat-bogs, Maine to Pennsylvania, Wis- 

 consin, and northward. Ituut-kuvcs G' - 10' long. Plowers earlier than most 

 species, beginning in July. 



-1- H- J/uiils rather large, at hast Jar the size of the plant. 



8. S. Speci6sa, Nutt. Stem slout (.'3° -0° high), smooth; leaves thickish, 

 smooth with rougli margins, oval or ovate, slightly serrate, the uppermost oblong- 

 lanceolate, the lower contracted into a margined petiole ; heads somewhat 



