COMPOSIT^E. (composite FAMILY.) 153 



smaller- bracts of the iuvolucre closer, shorter, and merely ac-ute. — Proc. 

 Am. Acad. xvii. 187. 



2. S. humilis, Pursh. Glahrona, disposed to he fjlntinons, bright green 

 stems strict, leafy : upper leaves lanceolate to nearly lino.-ir, ( ntire ; lower and 

 radical becoming spatulate with long attenuate base, sparingly appre.ssed-ser- 

 rate above the middle : heads rather crowded in a narrow rare mi form paniculate 

 simple or sparingli/ branched thi/rsiis: bracts of the inrolurre ohlDUfi-Hnrnr, obtuse. 

 — S. Virqanrea, var. humilis, Gray, Man. In the mountains of New Mexico 

 and Colorado, and extending northward to the British pos.se.ssions, where it 

 ranges eastward across the continent. 



Var. nana, Gray. A high alpine form, 2 to 5 inches high, with si)atulate 

 to obovate leaves, and few heads in a close glomerule, or more nun)erous in a 

 spikelike thyrsus. — Synopt. Fl. i. 148. S. Jlrf/aur('a,yar. humilis, Gray, Proc. 

 Am. Acad. viii. 389. S. llrgaurea, var. alpina, of Fl. Colorado and Wheeler's 

 Report. High mountains of Colorado and in the Cascades. 



* * Heads smaller, 2 or 3 [rarehj 4) lines long, not in a terminal ci/me, but in 

 paniculate or raceme-like clusters, ichich when icell developed are collected in a 

 terminal compound panicle or panicles ; ichen the chisters are raceme-like and 

 spreading they are apt to be secund : stems branching onlg at summit, 



■^Neither alpine, canescentl J pubescent, nor the leaves triple-ribbed : leaves entire 



or little serrate. 



3. S. spectabilis, Gray. A foot or two high : heads numerous and 

 crowded in a narrow or compound and broader thijrsus: cauline leaves lanceo- 

 late, or the small uppermost becoming linear, acute ; lower and radical spatu- 

 late-lanceolate or oblong, acutish or obtuse, often an inch wide and obscurely 

 triple-ribbed ; radical rarely with a few serratures : involucral bracts lanceolate 

 or broader, mostly obtuse: rai/s 8 fo 15, small: alenes pubescent. — Proc. Am. 

 Acad. xvii. 193. aS. Guiradonis, var. spectabilis, Faton. From the Ea.stern 

 slopes of the "Front Range" in Colorado to western slopes of the Sierra 

 Nevada. 



4. S. speciosa, Nutt. Commonly 3 to 6 feet high and robust : leaves 

 thicker and generalli/ ample, oval or oblong, rather abru])tly narrowed into a 

 sessile base, or the larger into a winged petiole, often 4 to 6 inches long and 

 2 or 3 wide; uppermost small and lanceolate or oblong; ])rimary veins spread- 

 ing and obscure : thyrsus narrow, composed of numerous short or rareli/ elon- 

 gated spiciform clusters, rigid, rather showy : heads 3 or 4 lines long: bracts of 

 the well-imbricated involucre of firm texture, narrowly oblong, very obtu.''e, 

 and ^vith a greenish midnerve: rags conspicuous, 5 or 6.* (denes glabrous or 

 nearly so. — Hardly extending into our range, but represented at its eastern 

 border by the 



Var. rigldiuscula, Torr. & Gray, which is not so tall, has smaller leaves, 

 the lower l)eing spatulate or oblanceolate and only 2 to 4 inches long mid 

 'hardly an incli wide, the upper more rigid and rougher-edged, and the thyrsu.s 

 more simple, 

 i- -1- Leaves more or less triple-ribbed, or with a pair of lateral t^eins continued 



parallel to the midrib. 

 *•*■ Sinooth and glabrous, at least as to the stem and bright green leave.^ • tnJIort$' 



