Thistle Family. 77 



SOLI DAGO L. Golden-bod. Perennials, with slender erect stems, near- 

 ly sessile, entire or serrate, alternate cauline leaves, and racemose or cluster- 

 ed, yellow, rarely white, heads. Involucral scales appressed, oblong, rarely 

 with green tips. Receptacle small, not chaffy, alveolate, fimbrillate in the 

 last. Rays pistillate, few to many. Disk flowers perfect, yellow. Pappus 

 simple, capillary, scabrous. Achenes teretish, ribbed. Flowers appear in 

 August and September. 



* Inflorescence in the axils of feather-veined leaves. 



S. latifolia L. Stem 2-3 feet high, angular, ziz-zag, smooth or downy a- 

 bove; leaves broadly oval, thin, deeply serrate, acuminate, base tapering into 

 <l margined-petiole, pubescent beneath; flowers in short axillary clusters, the 

 terminal racemose; scales appressed; rays 3-4. Rich woods; July-September; 

 frequent; Allamakee, Fayette, Delaware, .Tackson, Johnson, Henry, Des 

 Moines, Story, Decatur, Winnebago, and Emmet counties. ( S. flexicaulis L. 



S. bicolor L. Stem 1-2 feet high, simple, hairy; leaves elliptical to oblong, 

 acute both ways, the lower slightly serrate, tapering into a petiole; flowers in 

 small axillary clusters, rays 6-12. white; involucral scales obtuse. Woods; in- 

 frequent; Johnson and Winneshiek counties. 



* * Inflorescence a terminal panicle. 

 f Leaves not triple-ribbed; racemes not secutid. 



S. speciosa Nutt. Stem 3-6 feet high, simple, smooth; leaves thickish, 

 the upper oval or oblong, smooth, rough- margined, lower ovate or broadly o- 

 vjil. sub-serrate, petioles margined; panicle ample, thyrsoid, rough-pubescent, 

 wiles oblong; rays 5-8. Upland borders; common in eastern Iowa, rarer 

 westward. 



S. rigidiuscula (T. & G. ) Porter. Stem rather strict, 2-4 feet high, gla- 

 brous below, rough-pubescent above; leaves lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 

 entire or the basal crenate, margins ciliolate, sessile or the lower petioled. 

 Prairies; common throughout western Iowa, but the range is not well known 

 as the species has been confused with the preceding. ( S. speciosa angustata Gr.) 

 t t Leaves not triple-ribbed; racemes secund. 



S. patula Muhl. Stem 4-5 feet high, smooth, angular-striate; leaves am- 

 ple, ovate, acute, serrate, very rough above, smooth and veiny beneath; heads 

 rather large, in short racemes, on spreading branches; scales obtuse. Swamps, 

 Cedar river region; Muscatine county. 



S. ulmifolia Muhl. Stem 2-4 feet high, glabrous; branches pubescent; 

 leaves elliptic-ovate or oblong-lanceolate, tapering both ways, thin, veiny and 

 soft-hairy beneath, sharply serrate or the upper entire; branches of the pan- 

 icle lone, slender, recurved; involucral scales lanceolate-oblong; ray and disk 

 flowers 3-4. Woods; common; variable; Winneshiek, Jackson, Johnson, Hen- 

 rv, Des Moines, Decatur, and Taylor counties; reported from Fayette, Scott, 

 and Story counties. 



t t + Leaves more or less triple^'ibbed; stem glabrous, panicle sometimes pubescent. 

 S. missouriensis Nutt. Stem 2-3 feet high, simple, smooth throughout; 

 leaves linear-lanceolate, tapering both ways, entire or sparingly denticulate, 

 rouo-h-margined, the lower frequently lanceolate, serrate; racemes short, 

 dense; involucral scales obtuse, thick. Dry woods and prairies; common; 

 flowering earlier than the other species; Muscatine, Johnson, Story, Decatur, 

 Ringgold, Page, Fremont, Cerro Gordo, Dickinson, and Lyon counties; repor- 

 ted from Fayette, Monona, and Harrison counties. 



