COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 293 



Receptacle flat, naked. Pappus of numerous very soft and slender capillary 



bristles. Herbs, in the United States, with alternate leaves and solitary or 



corymbed heads. Flowers chiefly yellow. (Name from senex, an old man, 



alluding to the hoariness of many species, or to the white hairs of the pappus.) 



* Root annual or in n. 3 biennial ; heads several or many in a corymb ; herbage 



glabrous or soon becoming so. 



*- Rays none or minute. 



S. VULGARIS, L. (COMMON GROUNDSEL.) Low, corymbosely branched, 

 glabrate; leaves pinnatifid and toothed; clasping tips of inyolucral scales 

 blackish ; rays none. Waste grounds. July - Sept. (Adv. from Eu.) 



S. visc6sus, L. Coarser, viscid-pubescent and strong-scented; leaves 2- 

 pinnatifid ; scales not black-tipped ; rays minute. Waste grounds, coast of 

 N. Eng. (Nat. from Eu.) 



- - Heads conspicuously radiate. 



1. S. lobatUS, Pers. (BUTTER-WEED.) Rather tall; leaves somewhat 

 fleshy, lyrate or pinnate, the divisions or leaflets crenate or cut-lobed, variable ; 

 heads small in a naked corymb ; rays 6-12, conspicuous. Wet grounds, N. 

 Car. to S. 111., Mo., and southward. April- July. 



2. S. paltistris, Hook. Annual or biennial, loosely woolly or glabrate ; 

 stem stout, 6' - 2 high ; leaves oblong-lanceolate, irregularly toothed or laciniate, 

 the upper with a heart-shaped clasping base ; rays 20 or more, short, pale yel- 

 low; pappus copious and becoming very long. Wet ground, Iowa to N. 

 Wise., Minn., and northward. June. (Eu.) 



# * Root perennial ; heads small or middle-sized , in a naked corymb. 



3. S. aureus, L. (GOLDEN RAGWORT. SQUAW-WEED.) Smooth, or 

 floccose-woolly when young (1-3 high); leaves thin, the radical simple and 

 rounded, the larger ones mostly heart-shaped, crenate-toothed, long-petioled ; 

 lower stem-leaves lyrate ; upper ones lanceolate, cut-pinnatifid, sessile or partly 

 clasping; corymb umbel-like; rays 8-12. Common everywhere. May, 

 June. Varies greatly. 



Var. obovatus, Torr. & Gray. Root-leaves thicker, round-obovte with 

 a cuneate or truncate base, or the earliest almost sessile in rosulate tufts. (S. 

 Elliottii, Torr. $- Gray.) Open grounds, Can. to Ind. and Ga. 



Var. Balsamitse, Torr. & Gray. Less glabrate ; root-leaves oblong, spatu- 

 late, or lanceolate, narrowed to the petiole, serrate, the upper lyrate-pinnatifid ; 

 heads rather small and numerous. Common. 



4. S. tomentosus, Michx. (WOOLLY RAGWORT.) Clothed with scarcely 

 deciduous hoary ivool (1 - 2 high) / root-leaves oblong, obtuse, crenate or entire, 

 often large, on elongated stout petioles ; the upper sessile, similar or lyrate- 

 pinnatifid; corymb flat-topped; rays 12-15. Del. and mountains of Penn. 

 (Pursh.}, to Fla. and Ark. May. 



5. S. canus, Hook. Usually low, persistently tomentose, rarely at all 

 glabrate ; leaves much smaller, spatulate to oblong, all entire or some cut- 

 toothed or pinnatifid ; achenes glabrous. N. Minn., N. Dak., and westward. 



6. S. integerrimus, Nutt. Woolly pubescent when young, soon gla- 

 brate and green; leaves oblong-lanceolate or oblong, entire or denticulate, 

 the upper bract-like, attenuate from a broad base; heads rather large (6" 

 high), with green-tipped scales. Sask. to Minn., and westward. 



