COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 241 



crowded in numerous erect racemes, forming an ample pyramidal or fLyniform pan- 

 icle ; peduncles and pedicels rough-hairy ; scales of the cylindrical involucre 

 oblong, obtuse ; rays about 5, large. Var. ANGUST\TA is a dwarf form, with 

 the racemes short and clustered, forming a dense interrupted or compound spike. 

 Copses, Maine to Wisconsin and southward. A very handsome species; 

 the lower leaves 4' -6' long and 2' -4' wide in the larger forms. 



9. S. petiolaris, Ait. Minutely hoary or downy ; stem strict, simple, (1- 

 3 high) ; leaves small (^'-2' long), oval or oblong, mucronate, veiny, rough-cilio- 

 late; the upper entire and abruptly very short-petioled, the lower often serrate and 

 tapering to the base; heads few, in a wand-like raceme or panicle, on slender 

 bracted pedicels; rays about 10, elongated: scales of the pubescent involucre 

 lanceolate or linear-awl-shaped, the outer ones loose and spreading, more or less 

 fol.iaceous, especially in var. 8QUARRUL68A, Torr. & Gr. S. W. Illinois 

 (Dr. Engelmann), and southward. The name is misleading, as the leaves are 

 hardly petioled. 



10. S. Virga-atirea, L. Pubescent or nearly glabrous ; stem low (6' - 18' 

 high) and simple ; leaves lanceolate or oblanceolate, or the lowest spatulate orelliptical- 

 obovate and petioled, serrate with small oppressed teeth or nearly entire ; racemes 

 rhyrsoid or simple, narrow ; scales of the involucre lanceolate or linear, acute ; 

 rays 8 - 12. An extremely variable species in the Old World and in our north- 

 ern regions; perhaps including several. (Eu.) 



Var. alpina, Bigel. Dwarf (l'-8' high), with few (1-12) pretty large 

 heads (3" -4" long, becoming smaller as they increase in number) ; leaves thick- 

 ish, mostly smooth ; scales of the involucre lanceolate, acute or acutish; rays 

 about 12. Alpine region of the mountains of Maine, New Hampshire, and 

 New York ; and shore of Lake Superior. 



Var htimilis. Low (6'- 12' high) and smooth, bearing several or numer- 

 ous loosely thyrsoid smaller heads, which, with the peduncles, &c., are mostly 

 somewhat glutinous ; scales of the involucre obtuse ; rays 6-8, short ; leaves 

 varying from narrowly lanceolate and nearly entire to oblanceolate and serrate. 

 (S. humilis, Pursh, Torr. $ Gr.) Kocky banks, W. Vermont, and along the 

 Great Lakes northward. Also on islands in the Susquehanna, near Lancaster, 

 Penn., Prof. Porter! Great Falls of the Potomac, Virginia, Dr. Bobbins! At 

 the base of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, on gravelly banks of 

 streams, occurs a form, with the minutely pubescent stout stem l-2 high, the 

 leaves larger and broader, and the heads very numerous in an ample compound 

 raceme ; the rays occasionally almost white. 



11. S. thyTSOidea, E. Meyer. Stem stout (l-4 high), wand-like, pubes- 

 cent near the summit, simple; leaves thin, ovate, irregularly and coarsely serrate 

 with sharp salient teeth, large (l'-4'long), all but the uppermost abruptly con- 

 tracted into long and margined petioles ; heads large (5" - 6" long), many-flowered, 

 crowded in an oblong or wand-like raceme or contracted panicle (2'- 18' long) ; 

 scales of the involucre loose and thin, long, lanceolate, taper-pointed ; rays 8 - 

 10, elongated ; achenia smooth. (S. Virga-aurea, Pursh. S. leiocarpa, DC.) 

 Wooded sides of mountains, N. Maine to New York (south to the Catskills), 

 shore of Lake Superior, and northward. Very near an European form of S. 



Virga-aurea. 



16 



