-Aster. COMPOSITE. 337 



Stem 12-18 inches high, sometimes assurgent, reddish, slender, shghtly angular. Leaves 

 2 - 4 inches long, thick, very rough with minute elevated points ; upper cauline ones often a 

 httle falcate. Peduncles 1 - 2 inches long. Heads about an inch in diameter. Scales loosely 

 imbricated, one-nerved, with large green spreading tips. Rays very long, violet. Appendages 

 of the style subulate, hispid. Pappus white, nearly equal. Achenia linear 



Pine woods. Queens County, Long Island {Mr. WUUs). Fl. September - October. One 

 ot the most showy species of this immense genus. 



^ 3. Aster proper, Torr. & Gr. Scales of the involucre wUh herhaceous or foliaceous tips, or the 

 exterior ones entire y herbaceous : rays numerous: bristles of the pappus soft, capillary, nearly 

 uniform, none of them thickened at the apex: achenia compressed. t y, y 



• BeaAs (rath^ Urge) mostly solitary, termi^ing the spreading branchlcts : scales oflh= involucre closely imMcaied rigid 

 .nth hM,a^<yus rnosUyame a^ul sovuwhat spreading tips: aekcnia U^ar-obl^g, rru^ny-stri^te, Iky ca^^scml : Z^s 

 aunculate^rdate and clasping the stem, entire, pubescent or scabrous; those of the hanchlets very smaU. 



5. Aster patens, Ait. Spreading Aster. 



Stem pubescent, paniculate at the summit ; leaves ovate-oblong or oblong-lanceolate 

 pubescent or rough, with ciliate and very rough margins, sometimes narrowed below the 

 middle, auriculate-cordate and clasping, those of the divaricate slender branchlets very small- 

 heads mostly solitary on the branchlets ; scales of the involucre lanceolate, puberulent ' 

 achenia si]ky.— Ait. Kew. (ed. 1.) 3. p. 201 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 551 ; Nees, Ast. p. 49 (excl' 

 syn. Micha:.) ; Beck, hot. p. 183 ; Darlingt. fl. Cost. p. 463 ; DC. prodr. 6. p. 232 ; Torr 

 4r Gr. fl. N. Am. 2. p. 114. A. undulatus, Linn. sp. ed. 2. p. 1228 (not of hort. Clif.) ; 

 Ell. sk. 2. p. 361. A. amplexicauhs, Michx. fl. 2. p. 114 ; Bigd. fl. Bost. p. 312. 



var. phlogifolius : heads large, usually somewhat racemose on the short branches ; involucre 

 more lax and herbaceous; leaves much larger, membranaceous, pubescent underneath, scarcely 

 rough, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, tapering to an acute point, usually contracted below the 

 middle.- .Vee*, I. c. ; Darlingt. I. c. ; Torr. 4. Gr. I. c. A. phlogifolius, Muhl. in Willd 

 sp. 3. p. 2034 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 550 ; Null. gen. 2. ;>. 156 ; DC. I. c. 



Stem 1 - 2i feet high, rather slender, with widely spreading branches, usually rough 

 Leaves of the stem 1 - 3 inches long (in the var. often 4-5 inches) ; of the branches mostly 

 4-10 hues long, and bract-like. Heads 5 (in the var. 8) hues in diameter, either solitary 

 or nearly so, at the extremity of the long slender branches ; or several, arranged in a somewhat 

 racemose manner on short but slender peduncles. Rays 20 or more, purplish-blue. Scales 

 of the involucre minutely pubescent or hairy, and somewhat granulate ; the inner ones acute 

 oracummate; exterior ones more obtuse and greener. Pappus ferruginous or tawny. Achenia 

 very hairy. 



Open woods, usually in dry soil ; common. August - October. 

 [Flora.] 43 



