Aster. COMPOSITE, 337 



Stem 12-18 inches high, sometimes assurgent, reddish, slender, sh'ghtly angular. Leaves 

 2-4 inches long, thick, very rough with minute elevated points ; upper cauline ones often a 

 little falcate. Peduncles 1-2 inches long. Heads about an inch in diameter. Scales loosely 

 imbricated, one-nerved, with large green spreading tips. Rays very long, violet. Appendages 

 of the style subulate, hispid. Pappus white, nearly equal. Achenia linear. 



Pine woods, Queens County, Long Island {Mr. Willis). Fl. September - October. One 

 of the most showy species of this immense genus. 



§ 3. Aster proper, Torr. & Gr. Scales of the involucre with herbaceous or foliaceous tips, or the 

 exterior ones entirely herbaceous : rai/s<numerous : bristles of the pappus soft, capillary, nearly 

 uniform, none of them thickened at the apex : achenia compressed. 



* Heads (rather large) mostly solitary, terminaling the spreading branchkls: scahs of the involucre closely imbricated, rigid, 

 wilh herbaceous mostly acute and somewhat spreading lips : achenia linear-oblong, many-slriate, silky canesce^it : leaves 

 auricvlale-cordaU and clasping the stem, entire, puiescenl or scajyrous; those of the branchkls very small. 



5. Aster patens. Ait. Spreading Aster. 



Stem pubescent, paniculate at the summit ; leaves ovate-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 

 pubescent or rough, with ciliate and very rough margins, sometimes narrowed below the 

 middle, auriculate-cordate and clasping, those of the divaricate slender branchlets very small ; 

 beads mostly solitary on the branchlets ; scales of the involucre lanceolate, puberulent ; 

 achenia silky. — Ait. Kew. (ed. 1.) 3. p. 201 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 551 ; Nees, Ast. p. 49 (excl. 

 syn. Michx.); Beck,~bot.p. 183 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 463 ; DC. prodr. 5. p. 232; Torr. 

 4- Gr. fl. N. Am. 2. p. 114. A. undulatus, Linn. sp. ed. 2. p. 1228 (not of hort. Cliff.); 

 Ell. sk. 2. p. 361. A. amplexicaulis, Michx. fl. 2. p. 114 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 312. 



var. phlogif alius : heads large, usually somewhat racemose on the short branches ; involucre 

 more lax and herbaceous ; leaves much larger, membranaceous, pubescent underneath, scarcely 

 rough, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, tapering to an acute point, usually contracted below the 

 middle. — Nees, I. c. ; Darlingt. I. c. ; Torr. <^ Gr. I. c. A. phlogifolius, Muhl. in Willd. 

 sp. 3. p. 2034 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 550 ; Nutt. gen. 2. p. 156 ; DC. I. c. 



Stem 1-2^ feet high, rather slender, with widely spreading branches, usually rough. 

 Leaves of the stem 1-3 inches long (in the txir. often 4-5 inches) ; of the branches mostly 

 4-10 lines long, and bract-like. Heads 5 (in the var. 8) lines in diameter, either solitary 

 or nearly so, at the extremity of the long slender branches ; or several, arranged in a somewhat 

 racemose manner on short but slender peduncles. Rays 20 or more, purplish-blue. Scales 

 of the involucre minutely pubescent or hairy, and somewhat granulate ; the inner ones acute 

 or acuminate ; exterior ones more obtuse and greener. Pappus ferruginous or tawny. Achenia 

 very hairy. 



Open woods, usually in dry soil ; common. August - October. 



[Flora.] 43 



