COMPOSITE. (composite FAMILY.) 241 



crowded in numerous erect racemes, forming an ample pyramidal or tht/rsiform pan- 

 icle ; peduncles and pedicels rough-hairy ; scales of the cylindrical involucre 

 oblong, obtuse ; rays about 5, large. — Var. angustXta is a dwarf form, with 

 the racemes short and clustered, forming a dense interrupted or compound spike. 

 — Copses, Maine to Wisconsin and southward. — A very handsome species ; 

 the lower leaves 4' -6' long and 2' -4' wide in the larger forms. 



9. S. petiol^ris, Ait. Minutely hoary or downy ; stem strict, simple, (1°- 

 3° high) ; leaves small (J'-2' long), oval or oblong, mucronate, veiny, rough-cilio- 

 late ; the upper entire and abruptly very short-petioled, the lower often sen-ate and 

 tapering to the base ; heads few, in a wand-like raceme or panicle, on slender 

 bracted pedicels ; rays about 10, elongated : scales of the pubescent involua-e 

 lanceolate or linear-awl-shaped, the outer ones loose and spreading, more or less, 

 fuliaceous, — especially in var. SQUAEKULdsA, Torr. & Gr. — S. W. Illinois 

 {Dr. Engelmann), and southward. — The name is misleading, as the leaves are 

 hardly petioled. 



10. S. Virga-aiirea, L. Pubescent or nearly glabrous ; sfemfoeof 6' -is' 

 high) and simple ; leaves lanceolate or oblanceolatc, or the lowest spatttlate or elliptical- 

 obovate and petioled, serrate with small oppressed teeth or nearly entire ; racemes 

 thyrsoid or simple, narrow ; scales of the involucre lanceolate or linear, acute ; 

 rays 8 - 12. — An extremely variable species in the Old World and in our north- 

 ern regions; perhaps including several. (Eu.) 



Var. alplna, Bigel. Dwarf (l'-8' high), with few (1-12) pretty large 

 heads (3" -4" long, becoming smaller.as they increase in number) ; leaves thick- 

 ish, mostly smooth ; scales of the involucre lanceolate, acute or acutish ; rays 

 about 12. — Alpine region of the mountains of Maine, New Hampshire, and 

 New York ; and shore of Lake Superior. 



Var. htimilis. Low (6'- 12' high) and smooth, bearing several or numer- 

 ous loosely thyrsoid smaller heads, which, with the peduncles, &c., are mostly 

 somewhat glutinous ; scales of the involucre obtuse ; rays 6-8, short ; leaves 

 varying from narrowly lanceolate and nearly entire to oblanceolate and serrate. 

 (S. humilis, Pursh, Torr. ^ Gr.) — Bocky banks, W. Vermont, and along the 

 Great Lakes northward. Also on islands in the Susquehanna, near Lancaster, 

 Penn., Prof. Porter! Great Falls of the Potomac, Virginia, Dr. Bobbins ! — At 

 the base of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, on gravelly banks of 

 streams, occurs a form, with the minutely pubescent stout stem 1° - 2° high, the 

 leaves larger and broader, and the heads very numerous in an ample compound 

 raceme ; the rays occasionally almost white. 



11. S. thyrsoidea, E.Meyer. Stem stout {l°-i° high), icand-like, -pubes- 

 cent near the summit, simple; leaves thin, ovate, irregularly and coarsely serrate 

 with sharp salient teeth, large (1' -4' long), all but the uppermost abruptly con- 

 tracted into long and margined petioles ; heads large (5" -6" long), many-flowered, 

 crowded in an oblong or wand-like raceme or contracted panicle (2' -18' long) ; 

 scales of the involucre loose and thin, long, lanceolate, taper-pointed; rays 8- 

 10, elongated ; achenia smooth. (S. Virga-aurea, PiirsA. S. leiocarpa, Z>C.) — 

 Wooded sides of mountains, N. Maine to New Tork (south to the Catskills), 

 shore of Lake Superior, and northward. — Very near an European form of S. 



Virga-aurea. 



16 



