Aster. COMPOSITE. 393 



§ 2. Perennials (?) toith leaves sjnnulosely pinnatifid-toothed or incised (or sometimes 

 entire) : scales of the involucre ivith long-acuminate hut not green tips : jxtpjms 

 of comparatively few (20 to 35) and very rigid bristles. {Transition to Town- 

 sendia.) — Megalastrum, Gray. 



5. A. tortifolius, Gray (not Miclix.). At first loosely white-woolly, when old 

 somewhat roughisli-liirsute or glal:)rate, a foot or so higli : brandies naked and 

 peduncle-like at summit, bearing a solitary very large head : leaves coriaceous, 

 rigiil, often twisted, oblong or lanceolate, veiny, strongly dentate or incisely pinnat- 

 itid with divaricate spinulose teeth : involucre hemispherical ; its very immerous 

 scales lanceolate-subulate and setaceous-acuminate, tlie outer a little shorter : rays 

 violet-purple, very numerous, an inch long : pappus becoming reddish. — Proc. Am. 

 Acad. vii. 353. Aplopappus tortifolius, Torr. & Gray, in Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist. 



Mountains near the southeastern borders of California {Dr. Cooper) ; thence to S. Utah, Fre- 

 mont, Newberry, Mrs. Thompson. This and A. {Megalastrum) WrightU, Gray, form a rriii;iik;ilile 

 section of the genus, which might almost as well he referred to Townsendla. Stylr-,i|,|i, ii>|;i^r,.s 

 short, obtuse. Akenes (young) linear-oblong, silky- villous. .Bristles of the "ii;iii|ms aliuut 

 20 in a single series, strong, flattish, serrulate-scabrous, nearly C(iualling the disk-corolla, and a 

 few slender and shorter ones intermixed. 



§ 3. Perennials, with leaves merely serrate or entire. — Aster proper. 

 * Pappus rather rigid, some of the longer bristles thickened towards the summit : in- 

 volucre campanulate or turbinate; its scales very regularly imbricated in many 

 ranks, rigid, with short green or greenish tijjs, the outer successively shorter. 



6. A. radulinus, Gray. Eoughish-pubescent throughout : stem rather stout, 

 one or t\V() H-i-t liigh, Ijranching above and bearing an open corymb of middle-sized 

 heads : leaves rigid and coriaceous, oblong, or the lower obovate-spatulate, sharply 

 serrate above, tapering below into a narrowed entire base, prominently reticulate- 

 veiny, scabrous both sides, the midrib very prominent beneath : peduncles short : 

 involucre obconical, 4 or 5 lines long ; its scales rigid, appressed, lanceolate or ob- 

 long, obtuse or abruptly pointed or mucronate, more or less glandular-pubescent, 

 the tips mostly green: rays 15 to 18, white (perhaps not always so) : akenes mi- 

 nutely pubescent. — Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 388. A. Radula, Less, in Linnsea, vi. 

 125 ; Durand & Hilgard PI. Pratten., not of Ait. 



Dry open ground, Monterey to Mendocino Co. (thence to Oregon, E. Hall) : also in the Sien-a 

 from Nevada Co. northward, Torrey, Lemmon. Tliis is nearly related to A. conspicuus, Lindl., 

 of the region much farther north, — a plant with larger heads and leaves, — while the smaller 

 forms are more like A. vionianus, equally a northern species. 



=k * Pappus softer and equable. 

 -i- Low and diffuse : branches leafy to the top and bearing small mostly single heads. 



7. A. Bloomeri, Gray, 1. c. Cespitose, a span or less in height, minutely cine- 

 reous-hirsute, and near the heads somewhat glandular : branches ascending : leaves 

 oblong-linear or the lower spatulate, 3 to 10 lines long, obtuse, entire, very rough 

 both sides with the short minutely hispid pubescence, the uppermost passing into 

 scales of the involucre ; these 25 to 30, linear, acute, glandular and greenish : rays 

 12 to 15, apparently purple, about 4 lines long : akenes minutely pubescent. 



Moist flats near Mount Davidson, Nevada (probably also within the State boundary). Bloomer. 

 Lemrnou. Heads 4 lines long. 



+- -f- Stems erect and branching, leafy, bearing several or numei'ous commonly panicu- 

 late or racemose heads : invohicre imbricated, 



-5-i- Its scales many-rcmked, close, and with short green tips. 



8. A. Menziesii, Lindl. IVlinutely hoary with a fine (eitlier soft or scabrous) 

 pubescence, or glabrate below, a foot or two higli : stem and branches vir^ate, rigid : 



