170 COMPOSIT.E. (composite family.) 



Var. mollis, Gray. Somewhat cinereous with a soft and short spreading 

 pubescence, a foot or two high, leafy to the top : leaves oblong-lauceolate : 

 cinereous pubescence of the involucre soft and spreading. — Proc. Acad. 

 Philad 1863, 64. Mountains of Colorado. 

 H- -i-Low, rareh) afoot high, conspicuousi ij hispid or hirsute with spreading bristly 



hairs: leaves entire, narrow: involucre close: rays numerous, occasionally 



wanting : pappus conspicuousi y double. 

 •M- Sparingly branched stems from the crown of a tap-root, more or less leafy : 



heads middle-sized: disk ^ to \ inch in diameter: involucre hispid: rays bQ 



to 80, occasionally icanting in the second species. 



8. E. pumilus, Xutt. Radical and lower cauline leaves from spatulate- 

 linear to lanceolate, a line or two wide; upper linear: rays ichite, 4 lines 

 long : outer pappus of short bristles little or not at all thicker than the inner 

 ones and more or less intermixed with them. — Dry plains, the Dakotas to 

 Cplorado, and in the mountains to Utah. 



9. E. COneinnus, Torr. & Gray. Like the preceding, but usually with 

 more dense and shaggy hirsuteness and less rigid leaves : stems not rarely some- 

 what copiously branched : rays violet or blue, rarely white : outer pappus con- 

 spicuous and chaffy. — Fl. ii. 174. In arid regions from Xew Mexico and 

 Arizona to Wyoming and British Columbia. 



Var. aphanactis, Gray. Discoid, the rays being nearly destitute of ligule 

 or wanting. — Proc. Am. Acad. vi. 540. — Colorado to Nevada and California. 

 •w- ++ More branched and leafy, over a span high ; with smaller heads, fewer rays, 

 and someichat naked involucre more imbricated. 



10. E. Brand egei, Gray. A very imperfectly known plant, green, 

 sparsely hispidulous hirsute : radical leaves spatulate-linear ; canliue linear 

 and small, or upper minute : bracts of involucre short-linear, almost naked ; 

 rays 30 or more, white : outer pappus of coriaceous chaffy scales, which are 

 commonly confluent with the scanty bristles of the inner. — Synopt. Fl. 1. 

 Pt. 2. 210. Adobe plains, S. W. Colorado, on the borders of New Mexico, 

 Brandegee. 



H- -t- 4- Dwarf cespitose from a midticipital caudex, with monocephalous flower- 

 ing stems: radical leaves dissected : pappus simple. 



11. E. compositus, Pursh. From hirsute to glabrate, with slender 

 margined petiole setose-ciliate : radical leaves much crowded on the crowns of 

 the caudex, usually 1 to 3-ternately parted into linear or short and narrow 

 spatulate lobes, the few on the erect flowering stems 3-lobed or entire and 

 linear : involucre 3 or 4 lines high, sparsely hirsute : rays from 40 to 60, not 

 very narrow, white, purple, or violet, mostly 3 or 4 lines long. — Alpine re- 

 gions, from S. Colorado and California to British Columbia and northward. 



Var. discoideus, Gray. Rays wanting or abortive : head commonly 

 smaller. — Am. Jour. Sci. n. xxxiii 237. — Same range as the type. 



Var. trifidus, Gray. Small blade of leaves simply 3 to .5-fid : the lobes 

 from oblong to obovate. — Proc. Am. Acad. xvi. 90. E. trifldus, Hook. 

 Mountains, N. Colorado to British Columbia. 



Var. pinnatisectus, Gray. Usually a large form : numerous violet- 

 purple rays 5 lines long : leaves pinnately parted into 9 to 11 linear and entire 

 or rarely 2 to 3-cleft divisions. — Loc. cit. Mountains of Colorado. 



