SUNFLOWER FAMILY. 471 



6 in. long or more; heads 4 to 5 lines high; involucral bracts in several series, 

 somewhat carinate, with green tips; rays white, lavender, or bluish, 4 to 6 

 linos long. 



Wooded hillsides, dry banks of gulches or streams, or in moist situations in 

 fields; the most conimoD species of the Bay region. Sept.-Nov. Yar. i, knits 

 Jepson. Slender, 4 to 6 ft. high, slightly succulent, mostly glabrous; heads 

 few and large; rays 7 to 9 lines long. — Very common and conspicuous in the 

 Suisun Marshes. Yar. media Jepson. Branchlets of the inflorescence rather 

 divaricate, with many spatulate-oblong or oblong-lanceolate spreading leaves 

 2 to 3 lines long; heads tew, those on the same branchlets maturing at very 

 unequal periods. — Lower Sacramento River; Saratoga. Var. ixvexustus Jep- 

 son. Herbage cinereous-pubescent; upper leaves and those of the inflorescence 

 small; involucral bracts spatulate-linear, thickish, obtuse, in rather few ranks, 

 almost wholly herbaceous; rays dull purplish. — Local form at Calistoga. Yar. 

 soxomexsis Jepson. Scarcely distinct from the preceding variety; slender, 

 1 ft. high, more glabrous; leaves mainly radical, oblong-spatulate, attenuate 

 into a petiole *£ to as long as the blade, remotely serrate; cauline much re- 

 duced, sometimes petioled, linear to lanceolate, those of the cymose panicle 

 subulate-lanceolate and closely ascending; heads solitary or few at the ends 

 of the strict branchlets; rays light pink to bright purple. — Subsaline lands: 

 Petaluma ; Napa. 



4. A. exilis Ell. Slexder Aster. Erect, slender, glabrous, mostly with 

 a rather narrow panicle; leaves linear, 2 to 4 in. long and 1 to 2 lines wide, 

 or rarely some of the lower oblanceolate or oblong and 2 to 4 lines wide, 

 entire, rarely serrate, those of the inflorescence lanceolate-subulate; heads 2 

 to 3 lines high; bracts linear, acute, herbaceous, scarious-margined; rays light 

 pinkish purple, 2 lines long; pappus fine and soft. 



Saline soil, not common: lower Sacramento River; Stockton; Alvarado. 

 Sept.-Oct. 



89. ERIGERON L. Fleabane. 



Perennial or biennial herbs with entire or toothed generally sessile leaves, 

 and solitary or corymbose heads. Disk-flowers yellow; ray-flowers exceedingly 

 numerous, pistillate, white or purple, the li gules almost filiform, or in some 

 species wholly destitute of rays. Involucral bracts narrow, equal, little imbri- 

 cated, seldom coriaceous or green-tipped. Receptacle flat or convex, naked. 

 Achenes flattened, usually pubescent and nerved. Pappus more scanty and 

 fragile than in Aster, often with a distinct short outer series. (Greek eri, 

 early, and geron, an old man, ' ' old man in spring. ' ') 



A. Rays present. 



Annual; heads with inconspicuous rays not surpassing the disk 1. E. canadensis. 



Perennials. 



Rays numerous, often 100 or more. 



Leaves mostly entire; stem very leafy at base, the cauline leaves much reduced; 



maritime 2. E. glaucus. 



Leaves serrate, the cauline less reduced 3. E. pJiiladelphicus. 



Rays conspicuous, about 30 to 40; stems very leafy; leaves linear or narrowly oblanceo- 

 late 4. E. foliosus. 



Rays filiform, comparatively few and inconspicuous; sparsely leafy; leaves filiform 



5. E. setchellii. 

 B. Rays none. 

 Perennials; leaves narrow and less than 1 (or 2) in. long. 



Stems decumbent; heads large, 6 to 8 lines broad 6. E. snpplex. 



Stems erect; heads smaller, 4 to 6 lines broad. 



Herbage glabrous; leaves filiform or narrowly linear 7. E. angustatus. 



Herbage yellowish green; leaves linear 8. E. inornatus. 



Herbage canescent or rough-pubescent; leaves linear to oblong, often narrowed at base. 



9. E. miser. 



