318 COMPOSITE. Solidago. 



Var. serrulata, Oray, 1. c. : the leaves minutely ciliate or as if serrulate with 

 short and sharp rigid bristles. — L. serrulata, Torr. 



Var. tortifolia, Gray, 1. c. : nearly the same, but with the rather broad leaves 

 remarkably twist(^d. 



Var. puberula, Gray, 1. c. : chiefly a dwarf form, either minutely or more con- 

 spicuously and roughly puberulent. 



Eastern part of the Sierra Nevada ; thence eastward to the Kocky Mountains, and northward 

 to Washington Territory ; abundant through tlie dry interior districts. Var. tortifolia, near 

 Aurora {Brewer), on Mount Davidson, Nevada {Bloomer), and Sien-a Valley {Lemmon). 



18. SOLIDAGO, Linn. Goldexuod. 



Heads small, mostly in panicles or panicled racemose clusters, rarely in corymbs, 



heterogamous ; the rays fertile. Involucre narrow, imbricated and the outer scales 



successively shorter, appressed, usually destitute of herbaceous tips. Receptacle 



small, alveolate or fimbrillate. Style-appendages lanceolate or triangular subulate. 



Akenes terete or angular, 5 - 12-ribbed. Pappus simple, of a single series of mostly 



equal and slender scabrous capillary bristles. — Perennial herbs, Avith virgate stems, 



alternate leaves, and yellow flowers, the pappus mostly dull white. 



A large genus with headquarters in the Atlantic United States, only a few on the Pacific side 

 of the continent ; flowering in autumn. 



§ 1. /Stem branching freely ; the branches erect, leafy, and terminated by dense some- 

 times paniculate corymbs of chistered small heads : leaves linear : scales of the 

 involucre narrow : rays incousjncuous but numerous : akenes imbescent. — 

 ErxiiAMiA, ]S'utt. 



1. S. OCCidentalis, Nutt. Glabrous throughout, 3 or 4 feet high, paniculately 

 branched, slender : leaves hnear, entire, obscurely 3-nerved, 2 to 4 inches long, 

 1 to 3 lines wide : heads in numerous small clusters {\ inch long) : scales of the 

 involucre rather acute : rays 16 to 20, not exceeding, the 8 to 14 disk-flowers. 



Common in wet places, especially near the coast, extending to British America. 



§ 2. Stem mostly sim^x^le : heads not in corymbs : rays usually more conspicuous and 

 fewer than the dish-floivers : akenes glabrous or nearly so. — Virgaurea, DC. 



% Heads rather feiv and large (a third of an inch long), in a narrow or raceme-like 

 pariicle, or in simple clusters : disk-flowers 20 to 30. 



2. S. spiciformis, Torr. & Gray. Glabrous or nearly so, glutinous : stem 

 ratlier stout, a foot or two high : leaves thickish, spatulate, serrate, tapering (espe- 

 cially the lowest ones) into a long and narrow entire base or winged petiole ; the 

 upper ones small and gradually passing into bracts of the narrow and spike-hke 

 panicle, becoming shorter than the heads and entire : involucre campannlate ; its 

 scales oblong and obtuse, the outer with somewhat greenish tips : rays about 7, very 

 small and inconspicuous : akenes silky-pubescent. — PL ii. 202. S. p)etiolaris, 

 Less. C?), Hook. & Arn. in part. 



About Monterey. Leaves so glutinous that they adhere firmly to the paper in drying. Spike- 

 like interru]itod ]ianielc strictly erect, 5 to 9 inches long. 



3. S. Virga-aurea, Linn., var. multiradiata, Torr. & Gray. Glabrous or 

 somewhat pubescent, a span to a foot high : leaves few, lanceolate, acute, slightly 

 serrate or entire, the lower with long narrowed base : heads few in a rather loose 

 cluster or panicle : scales of the involucre rather loose, lanceolate, acute, thin : rays 

 about 12, narrow, conspicuous : akenes minutely pubescent. — S. corymbosa, Kutt. 



Higher parts of the Sierra Nevada ; apparently rare in California, more common in the Eocky 

 Mountains, as are some other forms of this polymorphous or perhaps compound species. 



