COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 223 



of flesh-colored flowers. (Name of a-K\rjp6s, hard, and X en-is, a scale, from the 

 pappus.) 



1. S. vertieillata, Cass. In water: pine barrens, New Jersey and 

 southward. Aug. 



4. LIATB.IS, Schreb. BUTTON SNAKEROOT. BLAZING-STAB. 



Head several - many-flowered : flowers perfect. Scales of the involucre im- 

 bricated, appressed. Receptacle naked. Corolla 5-lobed. Achenia slender, 

 tapering to the base, about 10-ribbed. Pappus of 15 -40 capillary bristles, 

 which are manifestly plumose, or only barbellate. Perennial herbs, often 

 resinous-dotted, with rigid alternate entire leaves (these sometimes twisted so 

 as to become vertical), and heads of handsome rose-purple flowers, spicate, 

 racemose, or panicled-cymose, appearing late in summer or in autumn. (Deri- 

 vation of the name unknown.) 



1. Stem usually wand-like and simple, from a globular or roundish corm or tuber 

 (impregnated with resinous matter), very leafy : leaves narrow or grass-like, 1- 

 5-nerved: heads spicate or racemed: involucre well imbricated: lobes of the 

 corolla long and slender. 



* Pappus very plumose ; scales of the 5-flowered involucre with ovate or lanceolate 



spreading petal-like (purple or sometimes white) tips, exceeding thejlowers. 



1. L. elegans, Willd. Stem (3 -5 high) and involucre hairy; leaves 

 short and spreading; spike or raceme compact (1 long). Barren soil, Vir- 

 ginia and southward. 



# # Pappus very plumose : scales of the cylindrical many-flowered involucre imbri- 



cated in many rows, the tips rigid, not petal-like : corolla hairy within. 



2. L. squarr6sa, Willd. (BLAZING-STAR, &c.) Often hairy (l-3 

 high); leaves linear, elongated; heads few (!' long) ; scales of the involucre 

 mostly with elongated and leaf-like spreading tips. Dry soil, Pennsylvania to 

 Illinois and southward. 



3. L. cylindracea, Michx. Commonly smooth (6' -18' high); leaves 

 linear; heads few '('-!' long) ; scales of the involucre with short and rounded ap- 

 pressed tips. Dry open places, Niagara Falls to Wisconsin, and south westward. 



# * * Pappus not obviously plumose to the naked eye : corolla smooth inside. 



4. L. scariosa, Willd. Stem stout (2 -5 high) pubescent or hoary; 

 leaves (smooth, rough, or pubescent) lanceolate ; the lowest oblong-lanceolate or 

 obovate-oblong, tapering into a petiole ; heads few or many, large, 30 - 40-flow- 

 ered ; scales of the broad or depressed involucre obovate or spatulate, very numerous, 

 with dry and scarious often colored tips or margins. Dry soil, New England to 

 Minnesota, and southward. Widely variable : heads 1' or less in diameter. 



5. L. pilbsa, Willd. Beset with long scattered hairs ; stem stout ; leaves 

 linear or linear-lanceolate, elongated; heads few, 10-15-flowered; scales of the 

 top-shaped or bell-shaped involucre slightly margined, the outer narrowly oblong, very 

 obtuse, the innermost linear. Mountains of Virginia and southward : rare and 

 obscure. Perhaps a remarkable state of the next; but the flowers as large 

 as in the preceding. 



