COMPOSITAE (composite FAMILY) 



811 



962. A. multifloru^ 



merely spreading; rays light clear blue or rarely violet. — Moist grounds, 



e. Mass. and s. Vt. to Pa., Mo., and la., rare. Sept. Fig. 951.— Perhaps 



a hybrid of nos. 14 and 36. 



36. A. multiflbrus Ait. Pale or hoary with minute close pubescence, 3-9 



dm. high, much branched and bushy ; the heads much crowded on the spreading 



racemose branches; leaves rigid, crowded, spreading, with rougli or ciliate 

 margins, the uppermost passing into the spatulate obtuse 

 hispiduious-ciliate bracts ; heads 5-6 mm. long ; rays 

 white or rarely purplish, 10-20. —Dry sandy soil, s. Me. 

 to Ont., westw. and southw. Aug. -Got. Fig. 952. Var. 

 Kxfeucs Fernald. Heads solitary or slightly clustered 

 at the tips of slender flexuous branches. — Less common. 

 37. A. commutatus (T. & G.) Gray. Similar; heads 



larger (7-9 ram. long); rays 20-30 {A. incanopilosus Sheldon.) —Plains, 



Mmn. to Sask., westw. and southwestw. July-Oct. 



1- ■(- ■<- Bracts glabrous, closely imbricated (the outer regularly shorter), not 

 coriaceous, with short oppressed green tips ; branches slender, divaricate or 

 divergent ; leaves lanceolate to subulate ; heads small (4-7 mm. high) and 

 numerous. 



•w- Heads scattered, terminating minutely foliose slender branchlets. 



38. A. dumbsus L. Smooth or nearly so, 3-9 dm. high, the branches slender, 

 loosely paniculate, divergent ; leaves linear or the upper oblong, crowded, entire, 

 with rough margins ; heads rather numerous ; involucre 

 obconical or campanulate, with 4-6 rows of linear-spatulate 

 obtuse bracts with abrupt green tips ; rays pale purple or blue, 

 larger than in no. 39. — Sandy soil, s. Me. to Ont., and southw., 

 except in the upland regions. Aug., Sept. Fig. 953. 



Var. coridifblius (Michx.) T. & G. Branchlets slender 

 and flexuous, elongated, with minute crowded divergent 

 small leaves, and generally solitary terminal heads. — Bar- 

 rens, Mass., and southw. 



Var. strictior T. & G. Branches stiff and ascending. — 

 Mass. to Ont. and N. C. 



■>•*' ** Heads racemosely unilateral upon very short minutely leafy branchlets. 



39. A. vimineus Lam. Smooth or smoothish, 0.5-2 m. high, bushy, the long 

 branches almost horizontally spreading ; leaves linear or narrowly lanceolate, 



elongated, the larger ones remotely serrate in the m,iddle with 

 fine sharp teeth ; heads small, 4-6 mm. high, crowded ; bracts 

 narrowly linear, acute or acutish, in 3-4 rows ; rays white. — 

 Moist soil, s. Me. to Ont., westw. and southw. Aug. -Oct. 

 Fig. 954. Var. folioi.6sus (Ait.) Gray. Leaves linear, en- 

 tire ; the ascending branches with more 

 scattered paniculate heads. — Similar 

 range. 



Var. saxAtilis Fernald. Low (1.6-6 

 dm. high); branches and branchlets 

 short, ascending, leafy-braoteate, termi- 

 nated by solitary larger heads (often 1.5 cm. broad). — 

 Rocky shores, N. E. and Que. to 0. 



40. A. lateriflbrus (L.) Britton. More or less pubes- 

 cent, much branched ; leaves lanceolate or oblong-lanoe- ^gg ^ laterlflorus 

 olate, tapering or pointed at each end, sharply serrate in ' ' 



the middle ; bracts of the involucre linear, acute or rather obtuse, imbricated in 

 3-4 rows. (A. diffusus Ait.) — Thickets, fields, etc., very common from N. S. 

 to Ont., and southw. Aug.-Oct. — Extensively variable ; leaves larger than in 

 either of the two preceding ; the involucre intermediate between them, as to the 

 fovni of the bracts. Hays mostly short, white or pale bluish-purple. Fig. 955, 



dumosus. 



A. vimineus. 



