110 COMPOSITiE. Liatris. 



ii. 275; Toi-r. & Gray, I. c, not Pm-sh. L. graminifolia, Willd. Spec. iii. 1636, excl. syn. 

 AYalt. & hab. ; Muhl. Cat. 73. L. strlcta, Maciia)) in Ediub. Phil. Jour. xix. 60. L. Jiexuosa, 

 D. Thomas, in Am. Jour. Sci. xxvii. 338 ? — Dry prairies and open woodlands, Upper Canada 

 and Michigan to Minnesota and Jli.'isouri. 



* # * Pappus distinctly plumose to the naked eye : heads 3-6-flowered : bracts of the involucre 

 acuminate or mucronate, coriaceo-herbaceous, not appendaged: corolla-lobes naked: leaves all 

 narrowly linear or the upper acerose. 



«L, punctata, Hook. Stems a span to 30 inches high from a thick and branching or some- 

 times globular stock, stout : leaves as well as bracts ccmimonly punctate, rigid : head 4-6- 

 flowered, olilong or cylindraceous, thickish, from half to three-fourths inch long, mostly 



, numerous and crowded in a dense (below leafy) spike : bracts of the involucre oblong, 

 aliruptly or sometimes more gradually cns])idate-acuminate, often lanuginous-ciliate : pappus 

 almost as plumose as in the preceding. — PI. i. 306, t. 55; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. L. ajUndnca, 

 Ton-. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ii. 210. L. rcslnosa, DC. Prodr. v. 129 (pi. Arkans.), not Nutt. — 

 Dry prairies and plains, Saskatchewan and Minnesota west to Montana and Colorado, south 

 to Texas and New Mexico. (Mex.) 



- L. aoidota, Engelm. & Gray. Stem a foot or two high from a globose or at length elon- 

 gated tuber : leaves very slender : heads 3-5-flowered, three-fourths to half an inch long, 

 numerous in a slender and strict naked spike : bracts of the involucre rather few, thinnish, 

 mostly glabrous, o\atc- and oblong-lanceolate, gradually or abruptly acuminate or cuspidate- 

 mucronate: pappus short-plumose. — PI. Lindh. i. 10; Gray, PL Wright, i. 83. L. mucronata, 

 Torr. & Gray, PL ii. 70, not DC. — Prairies of Texas, Orummond, Wright, Lindheimer, &c. 

 Var. vernaUs, Engelnr. & Gra}^ 1. c, is a depauperate vernal form. 



Var. mucronata. Heads and flowers smaller ; involucral bracts abruptly mu- 

 cronate-pointed. — L. mucronata, Engelm. & Gray, PI. Lindh. i. 10. — Texas, Lind!uimer. 

 L. Bo^kini, Tonn. & Grat. Glabrous: stem very slender, afoot or two high: leaves 

 punctate ; lower narrowly linear, upper acerose : heads rather numerous in a strict naked 

 spike, 3-4-flowered, hardly half-inch long : bracts of the involucre only about 8, thin, 

 lanceolate, acuminate, the inner somewhat scarious at margins and tip : pappus short-plu- 

 mose. — El. ii. 70. — Near Columbus, Georgia, Boi/kin. Not since found. 



* # # * Pappus from barbellulate to minutely short-plumose under a lens, not to the naked eye. 

 -f— Heads subglobose or hemispherical, 15— tO-flowered : involucral bracts mostly spatulate, many- 

 ranked, somewhat spreading: corolla-lobes comparatively short. 



L. SCariosa, Willd. Pubescent or glabrate : stem stout, 1 to 5 feet high : leaves spatulate- 

 or oblong-lanceolate and tapering into a petiole (4 to 6 inches long, half-inch to inch and a 

 half wide); upper narrowly lanceolate ; uppermost small, liuear, sessile : heads racemose or 

 spicate, few or numerous (3 to 50), mostly 25-40-flowered and aliout an inch liigh and wide: 

 involucral bracts broadest and rounded at summit, there either herbaceous or scarious edged 

 and tinged with purple (rarely white-scarious) : pappus-bristles minutelv barbellate. — 

 Willd. Spec iii. 1635; Sims, Bot. Mag. t. 1709; Ker, Bot. Eeg. t. 590; Lindl. Bot. Reg. 

 t. 1654; Meehan, Nat. Flowers, ser. 2, ii. t. 29. L. aspera & sphccroidea, Michx. El. ii. 92. 

 L. srariosn & L. splueroidea, DC. 1. i:. L. sphwoidea, Brit. Fl. Gard. t. 87. L. borealis, 

 Nutt. in Paxt. Mag. v. t. 27. L. squanosa, Sweet, Brit. Fl. Gard. t. 44 ? Smatula scariosa, 

 L. Spec. ii. 818. — Dry and usually sandy ground. Upper Canada and New England to the 

 Saskatchewan, west to the Rocky Mountains, south to Florida and Texas. A'iirics greatly ; 

 in the involucre, which is either herbaceous .jr with the tips largely scarious and cohTrcd ; in 

 the size of the heads, &c., passing into the extreme microcephalous form (which except 'for 



the transitions would be regarded as a distinct sjjccics), viz. : 



Var. squarrulosa. Comparatively small and slender : heads merely half or two- 

 thirds inch long, 14-20-flowered : involncr:d .scales narrower, innermost sometimes linear or 

 lanceolate and acutish. — L. squarrulosa, Michx. 1. c. L. heterophil/,, 1! Br in Ait Kew 

 ed. 2, iv. 503; Pursh, Fl. ii. 508; Nutt. Gen. ii. 131. -Open woods, N. Carolina to Texas. 

 The heads of ordniary L. scarh.in, when abnornmlly numerous and paniculate, are some- 

 times reduced to the smallest size. 



-1- -1- Heads oblong, 5-flowered: involucre squarrose by the spreading colored tips of the bracts. 

 L pycnostachya, Mmnx. Hirsute, or below glabrous: stem stout 3 to 5 feet hio-h • 

 leaves crowded throughout; the lower lanceolate and the upper very narrowly linear: spike 



