186 COMPOSITE. Aster. 



ii. 128. A. sparsiftorus, Michx. Fl. ii. 112; Willd. Enum. 880 (with unusually large lower 

 leaves) ; Nutt. Gen. ii. 155. A.fragilis, Lindl. Bot. Reg. t. 1537, & herb. — Border of moist 

 or dry woods, New England and W. Canada to Florida and Texas. Runs into various 

 forms, such as 



Var. coridif olius, Torr. & Gray, 1. c. A more rigid and effuse Southern form, 

 with rather coriaceous leaves, especially the very small ones of the elongated branches and 

 branchlets; involucral bracts also more rigid. — A. coridifolius, Michx. Fl. ii. 112; Willd. 

 Spec. iii. 2028; Nees, Ast. 104; Lindl. Bot. Reg. t. 1487. A. foliolosus, Ell. Sk. ii. 345, not 

 Ait. A. foliolosus, var. coridifolius, Nutt. Gen. ii. 155. A. multifiorus, Bertol. Misc. v. t. 5, 

 fig. 3. — Pine barrens, S. Carolina to Florida and Louisiana. 



Var. subulsefolius, Toer. & Gray, 1. c. Rather rigid form, with ascending flower- 

 ing branches, on which the somewhat large heads are often subracemosely paniculate and 

 bearing erect or little spreading subulate-linear or linear-oblong very small leaves. — Open 

 woods and pine barrens, Carolina to Texas ; also N W. Arkansas. The var. subracemosus, 

 Torr. & Gray, 1. c, was made up of specimens, some fairly referable to the present form, 

 others to A. vimineus, var. foliolosus, or of intermediate forms. 



++ ++ Heads race mosely unilateral, usually numerous or crowded along the flowering branches ; 

 the branchlets or minutely leafy peduncles shorter or little longer than the involucre: disk- 

 flowers apt to turn purple. 



A. racemoSUS, Ell. Minutely scabrous-pubescent along the numerous slender erect or 

 ascending branches, probably rather tall (base of stem unknown) : leaves rigid, linear, 

 small, acute, entire : heads small (little over 2 lines high), somewhat spicately or more 

 loosely racemose : involucre hemispherical and of narrower and acnter bracts than in the fol- 

 lowing : rays only a line or two long, purplish. — Sk. ii. 348 ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 127. — 

 S. Carolina to Florida and Louisiana, in the low country or along the coast. Perhaps also 

 Texas, but specimens (of Lindheimer) insufficient. Species insufficiently understood. 



A. vimineus, Lam. Nearly glabrous : stem 2 to 5 feet high, slender, simple, with nu- 

 merous usually horizontal foliolose flowering branches, bearing numerous usually crowded 

 heads : leaves linear or narrowly lanceolate, entire, or the lower with few serratures (the longer 

 cauline 3 to 4 or 5 inches long, 2 to 4 lines wide) : heads 2 or 3 lines high : bracts of involucre 

 linear, usually acutish : rays commonly pure white (not rarely changing to purplish, even 

 on a part of the plant), about 2 lines long. — Diet. i. 306 (1783, form with somewhat lanceo- 

 late cauline leaves) ; Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. xvii. 169. A. Tradescanti, L., as to one speci- 

 men in herb. Cliff., of very doubtful authority, also of hort. Par. in early days, of Nees, DC, 

 Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 129, with var. fragilis ; not of herb. L. (hort. Ups.), nor A. Tradescanti, 

 Morison, A. secund'iflorus, Desf. Hort. Par. 1815, & A. diffusus, DC. Prodr. v. 242, partly. 

 A. multifiorus, Nutt. Gen. ii. 155, excl. syn. A. tenuifolius, Ell. Sk. ii. 347, not L. A. fra- 

 gilis, Nees, Ast. 101, in part, not Willd. — Moist ground, Canada to Florida and west to 

 Arkansas, most common northward ; flowering rather early. 



Var. foliolosus. Leaves linear, entire : branches ascending, bearing sparse or more 

 paniculate heads: consists of forms intermediate between A. vimineus and A. dumosus, but 

 with smaller heads than is usual in the latter, and thinner as well as narrower involucral 

 bracts. — A. foliolosus, Ait. Kew. iii. 202. A. ericoides, Meliloti agrarice umbone, Dill. Elth. 

 39, t. 35, a coarsely exaggerated figure : from which figure solely the char. & descr. of A. miser, 

 L. Spec. ii. 877, were made, neither these nor the figure answering at all well to the dried 

 specimen in herb. Sherard ; which is said to have been raised from New England seeds. A. 

 dumosus, var. subracemosus, Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 128. — New England to Illinois. 



A. diffusus, Ait. Either pubescent or almost glabrous, a foot to- 4 or 5 feet high ; the 

 larger plants widely and divergently branched : leaves thinnish, mostly broadly lanceolate 

 or wider, with much narrowed base, acute or acuminate; lower cauline generally 3 to 5 

 inches long, sparingly and acutely serrate ; those of the flowering branches becoming small 

 and entire, some of them surpassing the crowded or sometimes more scattered heads, which 

 are usually disposed along the length of the flowering branches, either singly or in clusters ; 

 radical leaves ovate and slender-petioled : involucre campanulate ; its bracts linear, obtuse or 

 sometimes acutish, and with a definite short green tip: rays small, white, or sometimes 

 tinged with purplish or violet. — Ait. Kew. iii. 205; Nees, Ast. 1. c, &c. A. divergens, Ait. 

 1. c. ; Nees, 1. c. A. pendulus, Ait. 1. c. 204 (a form with narrowish and less serrate leaves, 

 verging to or connecting with the preceding species) ; Nees, Ast. 100. A. Tradescanti, 



