Lygodesmia. COMPOSITE. 435 



P. serpentaria.) Harpalyce altissima, Don, 1. c. ; Beck. 1. c. Nabalus altissimus, Hook. Fl. i. 

 294 ; DC. 1. c. ; Torr. & Gray, 1. c, with named varieties, ovatus, cordatus (N. cordatus, Hook., 

 Prenanthes cordata, YNllld. Hort. Berol. t. 25), deltoideus (N. deltoideus & N. cordatus, DC. 



1. c, Prenanthes deltoideus, Ell. L c), & dissectus, all too transitional for preservation. Woods 



and shaded banks, Newfoundland to Saskatchewan, Pennsylvania, and to the mountains of 

 Georgia. 



•4- +- Involucre campanulate-oblong, of livid or greenish bracts nearly or quite destitute of 

 scarious margins, imperfectly calyculate by 2 or 3 irregular and loose linear accessory bracts, 

 less pendulous than in the preceding: pappus sordid-whitish: plants glabrous or a little 

 pubescent. 



P. Boottii. A span or two high, simple, several-leaved, bearing 7 to 15 racemosely disposed 

 heads : leaves deltoid-oblong and obtuse, or somewhat hastate and the upper acute, on mar- 

 gined petioles, uppermost lanceolate, all entire or denticulate, the lamina only an inch or so 

 long : involucre half-inch long, of 10 to 15 obtuse and rather unequal proper bracts, 10-18- 

 flowered: flowers dull white. — Prenanthes alba, var. nana, Bigel. Fl. Bost. 1. c, in part. 

 Nabalus Boottii, DC. Prodr. vii. 241 ; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. 482. — Alpine region, mountains of 

 Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and N. New York ; first coll. by Boott and Bigelow. 



P. alata. A foot or two high, the larger plants branching : leaves hastate-deltoid, acute or 

 acuminate, sharply and irregularly dentate, abruptly contracted or some of the upper cune- 

 ately decurrent into winged petioles, or small uppermost narrower and sessile by a tapering 

 base: heads loosely and somewhat corymbosely paniculate : involucre of 8 to 10 bracts, 7-15- 

 flowered : flowers purplish : akenes slender, 3 or almost 4 lines long, at least sometimes with 

 tapering summit ! — Sonchus hastatus, Less, in Linn. vi. 99 ; Bong. Veg. Sitch. 146. Nabalus 

 alatus, Hook. Fl. i. 294, t. 102 ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 483. Mulgedium hastatum, DC. Prodr. 

 vii. 250. — Unalaska and other Aleutian Islands to Oregon ; first coll. by Chamisso, &c. 

 (Adj. Asia.) 



Var. sagittata. Leaves sagittate or hastate, with the basal lobes mostly slender and 

 prolonged: heads in a virgate panicle: involucre narrower, pale green (not livid), very 

 glabrous, subtended by more numerous slender calyculate bracts : immature akenes little 

 over 2 lines long, not tapering at summit. — Rocky Mountains, N. Montana, in Jocko Canon, 

 Watson. Upper Flathead, Canby & Sargent. 



229. LYGODESMIA, Don. (Auyos, a pliant twig, and Sor/x^, bundle, 

 from the vimineous fasciculate stems of the tjpical species.) — N. American herbs, 

 mostly smooth and glabrous ; with usually rush-like rigid or tough stems, linear or 

 scale-like leaves, and terminal or scattered heads which are alwajs erect ; the 

 flowers pink or rose-color, produced in spring or summer. — Don, in Edinb. Phil. 

 Jour. vi. 305; DC. Prodr. vii. 198; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 484; Beuth. & Hook. 

 Gen. 530 ; Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. ix. 217. Genus somewhat polymorphous. 



§ 1. Erect perennials, with striate-angled junciform stems and branches, not 

 spinescent, and terminal solitary heads : akenes slender, terete, almost filiform, 

 slightly tapering to summit, 4-8-nerved or at maturity nerveless : pappus soft and 

 copious, whitish or sordid. 



L. jtincea, Don, L c. Fastigiately much branched from the deep-rooted base, about a foot 

 high : leaves persistent, small, somewhat nervose ; lower lanceolate-linear from a. broadish 

 base, inch or two long; upper reduced to small subulate scales : involucre at most half-inch 

 long, 5-flowered : ligules a quarter or third of an inch long. — Hook. Fl. i. 295, t. 103; Torr. 

 & Gray, 1. t. Prenanthes juncea, Pursh, Fl. ii. 498; Nutt. Gen. ii. 123. — Plains of the Sas- 

 katchewan and Minnesota to the Rocky Mountains, New Mexico, and even in Nevada, 

 Watson. 



L. grandiflora, Tokk. & Gkay. Stems separate or few from the root, simple below, a 

 span to a foot high ; the larger plants leafy, corymbosely branched above, and bearing few 

 or numerous short-pedunculate heads : leaves all entire, of firm and thickish texture, linear- 

 attenuate, 2 to 4 inches long, only the very uppermost reduced to scales : involucre fully 

 three-fourths inch long, 5-10-flowered : ligules of equal length, showy, rose-red. — Fl. ii. 485. 



