COINCIDENT LEAF-FORMS 13 
of few radicals, and those small, is characteristic of Gray's Hetero- 
plylt. Large radicals are often progressively different in form ; 
as in A. multiformis, A. roscidus ; the smaller are all quite similar, 
as in A. undulatus, A. Shortit, A. cordifolius, A. laevis, and allies. 
(c) Lower cauline leaves ; the most characteristic leaves usually, 
and usually also the predominant leaves, in so far as affecting the 
eye most, and giving the plant its characteristic aspect. They are 
apt to continue the form and size of the uppermost radical, now 
usually perished. These and the entire radical series may be 
classed together as dasa leaves. 
(d) Middle cauline leaves; in most species transitional in shape 
and other characters between the preceding and the next. 
(e) Upper cauline leaves ; usually much smaller and of quite a 
new form, often of the same form as the next but frequently 
not so. 
(f) Axile leaves; those at the base of primary inflorescence 
branches, i. e., subtending the primary axils. According to their 
diminution or enlargement they make the inflorescence seem naked 
or leafy. 
(g) Rameal leaves; on the primary inflorescence branches 
(peduncles) ; almost absent in some but in others very conspicuous. 
(2) Bractlets, belonging to the pedicels (ultimate branchlets) ; 
little developed in Biotian species but very conspicuous in A. un- 
dulatus, A. ericoides, A. dumosus, etc. 
According as one or the other of the foregoing parts of the leaf- 
series is more strongly developed, the plant will change its aspect 
and may be mistaken for a new species, whereas it should not be 
so accredited unless the new development be persistent. 
CONSECUTIVE LEAF-FORMS 
The normal individual aster may be expected, as a seedling or 
offshoot, to develop radical leaves, and to remain as a tuft of radicals 
for one or more seasons, then developing an erect flowering stem. 
I treat both the normal and the less usual stages of life-history in 
combination, following the order of succession of development, 
distinguishing by number and by letter, the normal by the letter 
N, the accidental or less usual by letter A. The normal stages are 
to be expected in all genuine species of Aster, but are particularly 
conspicuous in the Biotian group. 
