Aster. COMPOSIT.E. 181 



* 7. Heads small, or in one species middle-sized, paniculate: lower cauline and radical lenves cor- 

 date and pttivhd: no glandular or vi-icid pubescence: akencs compressed, short, 3-5-nervcd: 

 rays violet, purplish, or sometinifs almost white; bracts of the involucre with short and ap- 

 prcdjjL'd green tips, except in the first. — HETtnopHYLLi. 



H— Anomalous species, with middle-^ized heads, many rays, and squarrnse foliaceous involucre! 

 ' A. anomalus, Em. elm. Pubescent and somewhat scabrous, a foot to a yard high, 

 pauiculately or virgately branched above, bearing numerous loosely disposed heads : leaves 

 veiny, thinui.sli, entire, mostly oblong- to lanceolate-ovate ^vith narrow and often deep cor- 

 . date base, those of branchlets reduced and lanceolate to subulate : heads half-inch high : 

 involucre pluriserially imijricated, hirsutulous-pubeseent, of attenuate-linear bracts; their 

 foliaceous upper haif recurved or widely spreading : rays bright violet, about 40, quarter to 

 half an inch long : akenes glabrous. — Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 503. — Limestone cliffs, Illinois, 

 Missouri, and Arkansas ; first coll. by Emiflmann. 



■i— -t— True Heturophylli, with smaller heads, 10 to 20 rays, and a close involucre of apprcssed or 

 erect bracts. Occasional ^pecimens with only the radical leaves cordate. 



++ Leaves all entire or nearly so (lower sometimes with a few teeth), of rather firm te.xfure, all 

 much longer than wide, none clasping: heads showy: rays violet, S or even 6 lines long, 15 (o 

 2U in number: involucre 3 or i lines high; its bracts all appressed and with mostly definite 

 short green tips, outer ^successively shorter. 



"A. Shortii, Hook. Stem 2 to 4 feet high, rather slender, leafy to the summit, bearing 

 racemose-paniculate heads : leaves minutely soft-pubescent, mostly glabrate and smooth 

 above, thin-veiny, nearly all petioled ; radical and principal cauline ovate-lanceulate with 

 distinctly cordate base and on slender naked petioles, tapering-acute (3 to 5 inches long), 

 only on ultimate short branchlets or peduncles reduced to minute subulate bracts . involucre 

 soraetimfes puberulent ; its bracts narrow, less rigid and less definitely green-tipped than in 

 the next: rays light violet. — Tl. ii. 9 ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 118. — Border of thickets and 

 shaded banks, Ohio to Georgia in the npi)er country, west to Iventuckj* and Illinois ; first 

 coll. by Slini-t. 



- A. azureus, Lindl. Stem 2 to 4 feet high, panicnlately or racemosely compound at 

 summit : branches slender and rigid : leaves hirtello-scabrous both sides ; radical and lowest 

 cauline ovate-lanceolate with subcordate base, on slender jietioles (3 to 6 inches long) ; cauline 

 oblong or lanceolate with winged petiole or attenuate base, verging to linear, and on the 

 , branchlets reduced to numerous small and slender-subulate rigid bracts : involucre glabrous 

 and smooth ; green tips of the bracts orate or deltoid : rays deep viulet-blue. — Iluok. (I'ump. 

 Bot. Ma"', i. 98, & DC. Prodr. v. 244 (incompletely de^cril^ed for want of lower leaves); 

 Torr. & Grav, Fl. ii. 118. .1. Oolentatvjiensis, Riddell, Syncips. 55. — Prairies and border of 

 woods, W. New York and iJhio to Jliunesota, and southwest to Arkansas and Texas, wjiere 

 there are forms with hardly a cordate leaf ! 



++ +^. Leaves some entire,- bnt lower almost always somewhat serrate, rather firm in texture, 

 lonc;er than broad ; the base, or that of wing-margined petiole of lower cauhue, cordatc-cUisping: 

 greeni-h tips of the less rigid involucral bracts sliort and rather obtuse. 



• A. undulatus L. Pale or dull with a minute somewhat cinereous and sometimes scabrous 

 pubescence: branches rather rigid, raceiuosely or panictdately bearing se^■eral or rather 

 numerous racemoselv disposed heads : leaves at most inconspicuously or obtusely serrate ; 

 upper mainly entire, lanceolate or oblong with partly clasping ijase, above diminished to 

 subulate bracts : middle ones ovate or ovate-lanceolate, abruptly contracted below and with 

 dilated cordate-clasping base, sometimes pandnriforra, below subcordate on margined petioles ; 

 low-est cauline and radical cordate on slender naked petioles : heads 4 hues high : ravs bright 

 violet or sometimes paler. — Spec.'ii. s:5 (Hurt. Cliff. & Herm. Parad. t. 96, iihence the name, 

 & Moris. Hist. 120) ; Ait. Kew. iii. 206 ; Hoffm. Phyt. Blatt. 77, t. C, f. 1 ; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. ; 

 Sprague, Wild Flowers, t. 4. A. dii-ersifoUus, DC. Prodr. v. 234. -1. paniculatus, Xutt. 

 Gen. ii. 56, not Ait., nor Lam. A. sagiltifolvis. EIL .^-^k. ii. 262, not 'SVilld. — Dry ground, 

 maro-in of woods, &c., Canada to Florida, Kentucky, and Arkansas. Southward in the low 

 and middle country the common form is 



, Yar. diversifolius. ilore rigid, scabrous or scabro-puberulent, anTl with longer 



viro-ate flowering branches, which are beset with minute subulate or lanceolate (or below 

 oblong) leaves, onlv the lower cauline having a narrowed base or winged petiole. — -1. direr- 

 si fuUus, ilichx. Fl. ii. 113 A. scaber. Ell. Sk. ii. 262. A. asperulus, Torr. & Gray, Fl. 



