414 COMPOSITAE. Vo. III. 
16. Aster Shértii Hook. Short’s Aster. 
Fig. 4297. 
Aster Shortii Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 9. 1834. 
Stem roughish or smooth, slender, panicu- 
lately branched above, 2°-4° high. Leaves 
thick, glabrous or nearly so above, finely and 
sparingly pubescent beneath, the lower and 
basal ones ovate or ovate-lanceolate, cordate 
at the base, acute or acuminate at the apex, 
slightly dentate, or entire, 2-6’ long, 1’-2" 
wide, borne on slender naked petioles; upper 
leaves lanceolate, entire, sessile or short-peti- 
oled, not cordate, those of the branches small 
and bract-like; heads numerous, 5’-7” high; 
involucre broadly campanulate, its bracts lin- 
ear, acute, puberulent, imbricated in several 
series, their green tips appressed; rays 10-15, 
linear, violet-blue, 5’-6” long; pappus tawny. 
On banks and along edges of woods, western 
Pennsylvania to Virginia, Georgia, Illinois, Wis- 
consin and Tennessee. Sept.—Oct. 
ye 
17. Aster azureus Lindl. Sky-blue Aster. 
Fig. 4208. 
Aster azureus Lindl.; Hook. Comp. Bot. Mag. 1: 
98. 1835. 
A. capillaceus Burgess; Small, Fl. S.E. U. S. 1218. 
1903. 
Stem slender, stiff, rough, branched above, 
1°-4° high. Leaves thick, usually all entire, sca- 
brous on both sides, the lower and basal ones 
cordate, ovate, ovate-lanceolate, or lanceolate, 
acute, acuminate, or obtusish, 2’-6’ long, with 
slender, naked, often pubescent petioles; upper 
leaves short-petioled or sessile, lanceolate or 
linear, those of the branches reduced to small 
appressed bracts; heads numerous, 4’-5” high; 
involucre turbinate, its bracts glabrous, linear- 
oblong, abruptly acute, imbricated in several 
series, their green tips appressed; rays 10-20, 
bright blue, 3’-4” long; pappus tawny. 
On prairies and along borders of woods, Ontario 
Blue Wood Aster. Fig. 4299. 
| Hae Aster cordifolius L. Sp. Pl. 875. 1753. 
SiN » ARR UN ON Aster choralis Steele, Contr. Nat. Herb. 10: 
NN BO’ F Ve 372. 1911. 
Stem glabrous or nearly so, rarely pu- 
bescent, much branched, bushy, 1°-5° high. 
Leaves thin, rough, more or less pubescent 
with scattered hairs above and on the veins 
beneath, sharply serrate, acuminate, the 
lower and basal ones slender-petioled, 
broadly ovate-cordate, 2’-5’ long, the upper 
short-petioled or sessile, ovate or lanceo- 
late, smaller; petioles scarcely margined; 
heads usually very numerous, small, 2’’-3’ 
high, 6-9” broad, handsome; involucre 
turbinate to cylindric, its bracts oblong- 
linear, obtuse or obtusish, green-tipped, ap- 
pressed; rays 10-20, 3-4” long, violet or 
blue, sometimes pale, rarely white. 
Woods and thickets, Nova Scotia and New 
Brunswick to Ontario, Minnesota, Georgia and 
Missouri. Consists of many races, differing 
mainly in leaf-form and inflorescence. Sept.— 
Dec. Tongue. Bee-weed. 
