COMPOSITE. (composite family.) 241 



crowded in numerous erect racemes, forming an ample pyramidal or thyYaiJbfm pan- 

 icle; peduncles and pedicels rough-hairy; scales of the cylindrical involucre 

 Oblong, obtusftj rays about 5, large. — Var. angustAta is a dwarf form, with 

 the racemes short and clustered, forming a dense interrupted or compound spike. 

 — Copses, Maine to Wisconsin and southward. — A very handsome species ; 

 the lower leaves 4' -6' long and 2' -4' wide in the larger forms. 



9. S. petiolaris, Ait. Minutely hoary or downy ; stem strict, simple, (1°- 

 3° high) ; leaves small (£'-2' long), oval or oblong, mucronate, veiny, rough-cilio- 

 latc ; the upper entire and abruptly very short-petioled, the lower often serrate and 

 tapering to the base ; heads few, in a wanddike raceme or panicle, on slender 

 braeted pedicels ; rays about 10, elongated : scales of the pubescent involucre 

 lanceolate or linear-awl-shaped, the outer ones loose and spreading, more or less 

 fuliaceous, — especially in var. squarrul6sa, Torr. & Gr. — S. W. Illinois 

 (Dr. Engelmann), and southward. — The name is misleading, as the leaves are 

 hardly petiolcd. 



10. S. Virga-atirea, L. Pubescent or nearly glabrous ; stem low (6'- 18' 

 high) and simple ; leaves lanceolate or oblanceolate, or the lowest spatulate or elliptical- 

 oliovate and petioled, serrate with small oppressed teeth or nearly entire ; racemes 

 thyreoid or simple, narrow; scales of the involucre lanceolate or linear, acute; 

 rays 8-12. — An extremely variable species in the Old World and in our north- 

 ern regions ; perhaps including several. (Eu. ) 



Var. alplna, Bigel. Dwarf (l'-8' high), with few (1-12) pretty large 

 heads (3" -4" long, becoming smaller as they increase in number) ; leaves thick- 

 ish, mostly smooth; scales of the involucre lanceolate, acute or acutish; rays 

 about 12. — Alpine region of the mountains of Maine, New Hampshire, and 

 New York ; and shore of Lake Superior. 



Var. humilis. Low (6'- 12' high) and smooth, bearing several or numer- 

 ous loosely thyrsoid smaller heads, which, with the peduncles, &c, are mostly 

 somewhat glutinous; scales of the involucre obtuse; rays 6-8, short; leaves 

 varying from narrowly lanceolate and nearly entire to oblanceolate and serrate. 

 (S. humilis, Pursh, Torr. $' Gr.) — Rocky banks, W. Vermont, and along the 

 Great Lakes northward. Also on islands in the Susquehanna, near Lancaster, 

 Penn., Prof. Porter! Great Falls of the Potomac, Virginia, Dr. Robbins! — At 

 the base of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, on gravelly banks of 

 streams, occurs a form, with the minutely pubescent stout stem l°-2° high, the 

 leaves larger and broader, and the heads very numerous in an ample compound 

 raceme ; the rays occasionally almost white. 



11. S. thyrsoidea, E. Meyer. Stem stout (1°- 4° high), wand-lihe, pubes- 

 cent near the summit, simple ; leaves thin, ovate, irregularly and coarsely serrate 

 with sharp salient teeth, large (l'-4' long), all but the uppermost abruptly con- 

 tracted into long and margined petioles ; heads large (5" -6" long), many-flowered, 

 crowded in an oblong or wand-like raceme or contracted panicle (2'- 18' long) ; 

 scales of the involucre loose and thin, long, lanceolate, taper-pointed ; rays 8- 

 10, elongated ; aehenia smooth. ( S. Virga-aurea, Pursh. S. leiocarpa, DC.) — 

 Wooded sides of mountains, N. Maine to New York (south to the Catskills), 

 shore of Lake Superior, and northward. — Very near an European form of S. 



Virga-aurea. 



16 



