310 COMPOSITE aster 



lanceolate to oblong or the lower spatulate, entire or nearly so, 2-6 

 inches long : heads 5-6 lines high, often solitary : bracts of the involucre 

 lanceolate to linear, nearly equal, the outer conspicuously foliaceous and 

 spreading or sometimes more imbricated and squarrose: rays violet to 

 purple, 6-10 lines long. Along streams and in wet mountain meadows, 

 Alaska to California and the Rocky mountains. The following varieties are 

 perhaps good species but material is not now at hand for a thorough study 

 of their character. 



Var. frondeus Gray Syn. Fl. i,Pt. 2, 193. Stems simple or with spar- 

 ing erect flowering branches, sparsely leaved: leaves comparatively am- 

 ple, 4-5 inches long, the lower tapering into winged petioles, upper often 

 with clasping base : heads solitary or few, naked-pedunculate, broad: in- 

 volucral bracts linear-lanceolate, loose and not imbricate, all equalling the 

 disk occasionally the outermost broader and leaf-like. Subalpine in the 

 Cascade and Rocky mountains. 



Var. apricus Gray, 1. c. Stem? clustered, ascending from tufted root- 

 stalks, 10-18 inches high, bearing solitary or 2-3 broad heads: leaves 

 thickish; involucral bracts all alike, somewhat spatulate-linear, obtuse or 

 acutish : rays deep blue-violet. On dry ridges, of Mount Adams, Washing- 

 ton, at 6000 feet. 



A* Burkei A. feliaceous var. Burkei, Gray, 1. c. A foot or two high, 

 rather stout, simple or branched above, leafy to the top : leaves thickish, 

 very smooth, ample; upper cauline mostly oblong, and with broadly half- 

 clasping usually auriculate base : heads solitary or several very broad : in- 

 volucre of oblong or spatulate and obtuse, loosely imbricated bracts, the 

 outei commonly shorter, or outermost sometimes more foliaceous and 

 equaling the disk. On Simcoe mountains, Washington, to the Rocky 

 mountains and New Mexico. 



A. Eatoni. A foliaceous var. Eatoni Gray,\ c. Rather tall, 2-3 feet 

 high, branching : heads numerous, ratner small, paniculate or glomerate: 

 leaves rather narrow lanceolate : involucre loosely imbricate, outer and 

 sometimes inner bracts foliaceous, erect or squarrose-spreading. In open 

 jrround or woods and along streams of British Columbia to California, 

 Montana and Nevada. 



A. militarius Greene. Minutely tomentose, at least on the underside 

 of the leaves and the inflorescerce : stems rather slender, 1-2 feet high: 

 leaves narrowly lanceolate, 1-6 inches long, acute, narrowed below to a 

 broad petiole, those of the branchlets small and passing into bracts: 

 heads numerous, in close panicles, about 6 lines high, its linear-lanceolate 

 or almost subulate bracts in several ranks, the outer successively shorter 

 and passing into the ordinary bracts of the branchlets, all acute, the inner 

 with distinct white margins: Rays 6-8 lines long, purple: achenes 

 sparsely hirsute: pappus rather copious, sorded. Along ditches and small 

 streams, Rogue River Valley, Oregon. 



A. Cusickii Gray Proc. Am. Acad, xvi, 99 Soft-pubescent through- 

 out or sometimes approaching to glabrous: stems 1-2 feet high, simple or 

 corymbosely branched, leafy to the summit: leaves thin, nearly entire, 

 oblong-lanceolate or oblong; upper ones moderately contracted above the 

 deeply cordate clasping base; lower ones with more elongated narrow 

 lower portion or winged petiole, with dilated but smaller auriculate clasp- 

 ing insertion: heads large and broad, terminating the stem or short leafy 

 branches: involucre very foliose-tubtended and loose, the larger and 

 broader lanceolate outer bracts fully equalling the inner : rays numerous, 

 narrowly linear, nearly half-inch long, pale violet : achenes glabrous. Along 

 subalpine streams of Eastern Oregon and Idaho. 



Var. Lyalli Gray Syn. Fl. 195. Villous with soft pubescence: etenia 



