121 



some narrow-leaved specimens of A. laccis with leaves which 

 grade in a series to the extreme measurement of 1X15 cm. 

 He records these as A. concinnus\\"\\\d.\ like Gray he suggests 

 ambiguity of this species — even hybridism in cases. Specimens 

 of these are WISCONSIN: Whitefish Bay, Milwaukee County, 

 Aug. 17, 1903, no. 3082, and Lake Woods Ravine, Milwaukee 

 County, Sept. 10, 1904, no. 3083. 

 " Another series graduating in an interesting scale is that of 

 Aster pilosus Willd., var Pringlei (Gray) Blake.* Some were 

 collected in central Wisconsin, about Kilbourn, Sauk County 

 where soils are light and sandy, and others are from North Bay 

 in Door County, another region of light soil — an ecological fact- 

 or which must not be disregarded in determining the taxonom- 

 ic position of these plants. Mr. Monroe has entered them on 

 his labels and in his lists under the name then commonly applied, 

 A. Pringlei (Gray) Britton. The more northerly specimens (from 

 North Bay) remind one of A. polyphyllus in general appear- 

 ance. 



In nos. 3331 to 3335, a series is listed as A. comnnitatus 

 (T. & G.) Gray, all collected in Town of York, Racine County, 

 Oct. 11, 1903. Later he doubted this determination himself.' 

 My examination of them leads me to confirm his later suspicions 

 and regard them as lusty extremes of A. ericoides L. (.-1. multi- 

 floriis Ait.),^" the number of rays (about 20) and all other ele- 

 ments concurring. By this evidence, A. commutatus should be 

 excluded from any Wisconsin list. 



On one of my visits to him I gave Mr. Monroe some typical 

 specimens of A. longifolius which I had collected in central 

 Wisconsin, ^^ which pleased him greatly as he had vainly sought 

 this species, the typical plant being of rare occurrence. They 

 are: Wautoma, Waushara County, Aug. 9, 1913, Benke nos. 

 3847 to 3849. In these the smooth outer bracts are almost en- 

 tirely green, subequal with the inner and the purple rays have a 

 shade of roseate admixture. Nearly all plants of this species 

 seen in herbaria deviate much from the type in leaf-form, in the 

 bracts usually in a well defined series rather than subequal and 



8 Blake, Rhodora 32: 140 (1930). 



9 Monroe, Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc. 11: 99-100 (1913). 



10 Blake, Rhodora 32: 138 (1930). 



" Monroe, Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc. 11: 102 (1913). 



