AsTBR. COMPOSITE. 349 



Stem 12 - IS inclies high, rather stout, angular, more or less pubescent or sometimes hairy 

 Leaves 3 - 6 inches long and 1 - 2 inches wide, tapering from about the middle to a cuneate 

 entire base, pmnately vemed, the teeth mucronate and spreading. Heads commonly few in 

 a loose spreading paniculate corymb. Involucre nearly half an inch in diameter : scales pale 

 green or tinged with purple, tapering to a long narrow point, the outer ones much smaller. 

 Kays 12.- 18, elongated, white. Achenia narrowly oblong, clothed with a short glandular 

 pubescence. 



In fertile woods, and on mountains ; rather common in the northern and southwestern 

 counties, and on the Hudson as far south as Catskill. August - October. 



24. Aster ptarmicoides, Torr. 4- Gr. (Plate LII.) Ptarmicoid Aster. 



Stem simple, rough above ; leaves linear-lanceolate, rigid, acute, somewhat shinina very 

 rough on the margin, those of the stem entire ; the lower ones elongated, often slighUy and 

 remotely toothed, tapering to the base or somewhat petioled ; corymb fastigiate ; scales of the 

 hemispherical involucre closely imbricated, rather obtuse, shorter than the disk — Torr &■ 

 Gr. Jl.N. Am. 2. p. 160. Chrysopsis alba, Nutt. gen. 2. p. 152. Dcslingeria ptarmicoides, 

 Nees Ast. p. 183. Diplopappus albus. Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 21 ; Gray in ann. lye. N 

 York, 3. p. 226. Heleastrum album, DC. prodr. 5. p. 264. Bucephalus albus, Nutt in 

 trans. Amer.phl. soc. (n. ser.) 7. p. 299. 



Stems 6-18 inches high, commonly several from a somewhat woody rhizoma. Leaves 

 usually a little ciliate at the base, more or less rough ; the lower and radical ones 3-6 inches 

 long and 2 - 4 lines wide, with a long tapering base, and often distinctly petiolate. Heads 

 rather small, in a spreading flat-topped corymb. Scales of the involucre narrowly oblon- 

 nearly smooth, greenish, in 3 - 4 unequal series. Rays 12-18, white. Pappus soft an'd 

 white ; the longer bristles thickened at the apex. 



Rocky banks of the Black River, near Watertown, Jefferson county. July - September 

 A rare and singular species, which has been referred to six different genera, but is a genuine 

 Aster. 



(f 5. OxYTRiPOLiuM, DC; Torr. & Gr. Scales of the involucre membranaceous or chaHaceaus with 

 membranaceous margins, destitute of herbaceous tips, usually very acute, the exterior passin- 

 into scale-like bracts: receptacle somewhat alveolate : bristles of the pappus soft and capillar^ 

 nearly equal : achenia compressed, often striate : leaves thickish or succulent, narrow and entire 

 —Annual or perennial; mostly smooth; natives of salt marshes. 



25. Aster flexuosus, Nutt. ^ Perennial Salt-mar,h Aster. 



Stem very smooth, flexuous, sparingly branched, the branches mostly terminated by (large) 

 sohtary heads ; stem-leaves linear , the lower ones lanccolatc-lincar, elongated, fleshy acute 

 tapering to the base , those of the branchlets subulate ; scales of the campanulate involucre 



