Vernonia. COMPOSITiE. 323 



1. Vernonia Noveboracensis, Willd. Common Iron-weed. 



Stem slightly pubescent ; leaves lanceolate or elliptical-lanceolate, finely and sharply serrate, 

 roughish above ; cyme fastigiate ; heads numerous, 20 - 30-flowered ; involucre hemispherical- 

 campanulate, shorter than the pappus ; the scales appressed, ovate, mostly produced into a 

 subulate or filiform appendage ; several of the outermost subulate, loose and bracteolate ; 

 achenia smooth or slightly hairy when young, glandular, shorter than the pappus. — Willd. 

 sp. 3. p. 1632; Michx. Jl. 2. p. 95 ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 511 ; Bigel. Jl. Bost. p. 293; Torr. 

 comp. p. 282 ; Beck, hot. p. 175 ; DC. prodr. 5. p. 63 ; Torr. ^ Gr. Jl. N. Am. 2. p. 57. 

 V. prajalta, Less, in Linnaa, 4. p. 264; Hook. fl. Bar. -Am. 1. p. 51 , Darlingt. fl. Cest. 

 p. 448. Serratula Noveboracensis, Linn. sp. 2. p. 818. 



var. prcBalta : scales of the involucre acute or acuminate, unarmed, or only a part of them 

 filiform at the top . — Torr. <^ Gr. I. c. V. prasalta, Willd. I. c. (not of DC.) ; Michx. I. c. ; 

 Pursh, I. c. ; Beck, I. c. Serratula prasalta and glauca, Linn. I. c. 



Stem stout, 3-6 feet high, striate, usually purple, simple or a little branching above, and 

 leafy to the summit. Leaves 3-6 inches long, often narrowly lanceolate, attenuated at each 

 end and sometimes with short petioles, a little pubescent, and the veins prominent underneath ; 

 the upper surface a little roughened with minute elevated points. Heads nearly half an inch 

 in diameter ; the scales brownish-purple, mostly ciliate with cobweb-like hairs ; the filiform 

 tips spreading or flexuous. Corolla deep clear purple. Pappus tawny, or sometimes dull 

 purplish. 



Wet meadows and borders of swamps ; very common on Long Island, and in the neighbor- 

 hood of New-York, but not found in the interior of the State. August. 



Tribe II. EUPATORIACEM Less. 



Heads discoid, with the flowers all tubular and perfect {homogamous), or sometimes hetero- 

 gamous ; the ray-flowers either tubular or ligulate. Style cylindrical above ; the 

 branches usually much elongated, obtuse or clavate, puberulent or papillose externally 

 towards the summit ; the stigmatic lines inconspicuous, terminating near the middle 

 branches of the style, not confluent at their termination. Anthers never caudate. Flowers 

 mostly white, blue or purple. Leaves commonly opposite. 



CONSPECTUS OP THE GENERA. 

 Sabtribe 1. EUPATORIEjE. Heads discoid homogamous. 

 t Pappus composed of slender hairs or bristles. 

 3. LlATHls. Receptacle naked. Scales of the involucre not striate. Lobes of the corolla elongated. Achenia ribbed. 



3. EnPATOHiUM. Receptacle naked, flat. Scales of the involucre numerous. Achenia 5-angled, not striate. 



4. MiKANiA. Receptacle naked, flat. Scales of the involucre (and flowers) 4-5. Achenia 5-angled, not striate. 



Subtribc 2. TUSSILAGINEjE. Heads with the flowers heterogamous, or dicecious. 



5. Nakdosmia. Heads corymbose, many-flowered, somewhat dioecious. 



6. TussiLAOo. Head solitary, many-flowered, heterogamous ; the pistillate flowers ligulate, in several series. 



41* 



