Solidago. COMPOSITE. 157 



Texas. From Willdenow to the latest authors this" has passed as the true S. serotina, and 

 that for this. 



++ ++• Minutely pubescent or glabrate, not cinereous nor scabrous, thinnish-leaved, and the 

 lateral ribs commonly obscure: panicle mostly erect and thyrsiform, often compact, and the 

 heads little if at all secund: involucre of small and thin narrow bracts: rays 12 to 18, small. 

 (Related to the preceding and following, also to S. rugosa.) 



S. lepida, DC. A foot or two high : leaves from oblong to broadly lanceolate, acute, 3 or 4 

 inches long, very sharply and mostly coarsely serrate, sometimes for most of their length, 

 sometimes only above the middle, in some the teeth almost uone : thyrsus very short and 

 compact, an inch or two long, little surpassing the upper leaves, not at all secund : heads 

 fully 3 lines long : bracts of the involucre subulate-linear, attenuate-acute. — Prodr. v. 339. 

 S. gigantea, Hook. Fl. ii. 2, in part. — Alaska, coast and islands, Hcenke, Kellogg, &c, and 

 Brit. Columbia. 



S. elongata, Nutt. Like the preceding, or taller, sometimes a yard high : leaves com- 

 monly narrower : thyrsus more developed and compound, 3 to 8 inches long, its branches 

 occasionally spreading : bracts of the involucre linear, acutish or obtuse. — Trans. Am. Phil. 

 Soc. 1. c. ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. 223, mainly. S. stricta, Less, in Linn. vi. 502. S. elata, Hook. 

 Fl. ii. 5, not Solander. — Along streams, Brit. Columbia to California, and east to Montana, 

 Slave Lake, &c. Seemingly passes on the northwest coast into S. lepida, and eastward into 

 S. Canadensis. 



++++++ Pubescent (at least the stem), either hirsutely or canescently, or hispidulous-scabrous: 



branches of the panicle when well developed secund. 

 = Leaves tapering gradually to an acute or acuminate point, generally thin or thinnish : panicle 



open, of naked and secund mostly recurving racemif orm clusters : bracts of the involucre nar- 

 row and thin : rays small and short. 

 S. Canadensis, L. Stem 2 to 6 feet high, from scabrous- or cinereous-puberulent to hirsute : 

 leaves mostly lanceolate, puberulent, pubescent, or nearly glabrous, sharply serrate or the 

 upper entire, veiny,, and with lateral ribs prolonged parallel to the midrib : heads small, 

 ordinarily only 2 lines long : bracts of the involucre small and pale, narrowly linear, acutish 

 or obtuse: rays 9 to 16, more numerous than the disk-flowers. — Spec. ii. 878 (excl. syn. 

 Pluk.); Ait. Kew. iii. 210; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 221. S. altissima, L. 1. c, that is Virga- 

 aurea altissima, etc., Martyn, " Cent." (Hist. PI.) 14, t. 14 ; not of most subsequent authors, 

 who have followed the conjectural references to Dill. Elth. S. reflexa, Ait. 1. c. 211 ; Willd. 

 Spec. iii. 2056. 5. nutans, Desf. Cat. ed. 3, 402. S. longifolia, Kchrader, in DC. Prodr. v. 330. 

 — Moist or dry and shady ground, New Brunswick to Brit. Columbia (and north to Slave 

 Lake), south to Florida and mountains of Arizona: flowering rather early. — The more 

 marked forms varying from the ordinary are the following. 



Var. prooera, Torr. & Gray, 1. c. Leaves less serrate or the upper entire, at least 

 the lower face and upper portion of the stem cinereous-pubescent or tomentulose with very 

 short and fine pubescence: inflorescence less open or the branches ascending in less de- 

 veloped or cultivated plants: heads sometimes larger. — 5. procera, Ait. 1. c. ; Willd. 1. c. 

 S. eminens, Bischoff, hort. Heidelb. — Open ground, Canada and Saskatchewan to Idaho and 

 Texas, the northwestern forms commonly dwarf. " 



Var. soabra, Torr. & Gray, 1. c. Like the foregoing, but the short pubescence 

 rough or hispidulous : leaves shorter, oblongjanceolate to oblong-ovate, more entire, more 

 veiny (approaching rough-leaved forms of S. rugosa) : heads sometimes 3 lines long. — 

 S. scabra, Muhl. Fl. Lancast. ined., not Willd., which is <S*. rugosa. — Drier and sunnier 

 places, Penn. to Florida and Texas. (S. scabrida, DC. Prodr. v. 331, of Mexico, appears to 

 he a form of this.) 



Var. canescens, Gray. Stem and both faces of the narrow and commonly entire 

 leaves canescent with soft and fine pubescence : bracts of the involucre broader and more 

 obtuse. — Proc. Am. Acad. xvii. 197. — S. W. Texas, Berlandier, Lindheimer, Bigelow, and 

 S. New Mexico, Thurber. 



Var. Arizonioa, Gray, 1. c. Minutely cinereous-pubescent or puberulent, hardly 

 scabrous : stems low : heads mostly 3 lines long : thin bracts of the involucre commonly 

 acutish. — S. mollis, Bothr. in Wheeler Hep. vi. 146. — Mountains of S. Utah, Ward, and of 

 New Mexico & Arizona, Bigelow, Roihroclc. (Heads, &c., nearly of S. velutina, DC, a Mexi- 

 can species, which approaches this and the preceding ambiguous forms of S. Canadensis.) 



