COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 191 



and simple stems. Leaves alternate, usually entire. Flowers purple, often va- 

 rying into white, commonly dotted with resinous particles. 



§ 1. Root tuberous: leaves very numerous, linear or lanceolate, the lowest broader and 

 tapering at the base, the upper sessile: heads in spikes or racemes: achenia hairy : 

 jxippus plumose or bearded : stents simple, or in more vigorous plants sometimes 

 branching below the spikes, and bearing fewer-flowered heads. 



* Scales of the involucre with petal-like or leafy tips: pappus plumose. 



1. L. elegans, Willd. Heads very numerous in a cylindrical raceme, 4- 

 5-flowered ; inner scales of the involucre petal-like, purple ; stem tomentose ; 

 leaves smooth, the lowest lanceolate. — Dry pine barrens, Florida to South Car- 

 olina, and westward. August. — Stem 2° high. Heads showy. 



2. L. squarrosa, Willd. Heads few or numerous, large, many-flowered, 

 cylindrical; scales of the involucre with leafy spreading tips; stem pubescent; 

 leaves smoothish or hairy, long, linear, rigid, 3-5-ribbed. — Dry sandy soil, 

 Florida to Mississippi, and northward. July and August. — Stem 1°- U° high. 

 Heads 1' long, sessile or terminating short branchlets. Corolla-lobes hairy, 



* * Scales of the involucre not appendaged. 

 *- Heads 3-6-flowered: pappus conspicuously plumose. 



3. L. Boykimi, Torr. & Gray. Nearly smooth ; stem slender ; leaves 

 linear, dotted; heads 3-4-flowered, rather closely spiked; scales of the invo- 

 lucre smooth, lanceolate or linear, acuminate and spreading at the apex, as long 

 as the pappus. — Near Columbus, Georgia. August and September. — Stem 

 1° - 2° high. Spike 6' - 10' long. 



4. L. tenuifolia, Nutt. Smooth; stem tall and slender; leaves narrow- 

 linear or filiform, the lowest long and crowded ; heads 5-flowered, in a long and 

 close raceme; scales of the involucre barely pointed, smooth, purple. — Dry 

 pine barrens, Florida to North Carolina, and westward. September. — Stem 

 2° -4° high. Racemes often 1 -sided. 



+- -*- Heads 3 -many flowered: pappus densely bearded. 



5. L. pauciflora, Pursh. Stem pubescent, declining; leaves linear, 

 short, smooth; heads 4 -5-flowered, in a long 1 -sided raceme; scales of the 

 involucre oblong-lanceolate, acute, smooth, or pubescent on the margins. (L. 

 secunda, Ell.) — Dry sandy ridges in the middle districts. Alabama to North 

 Carolina. September. — Stem 2° - 3° long. 



6. L. Chapmailii, Torr. & Gray. Stem tomentose ; leaves smooth or 

 pubescent, linear, rather obtuse ; the uppermost very short and bract-like ; 

 heads mostly 3-flowered, cylindrical, densely spiked ; scales of the involucre lan- 

 ceolate, acuminate, smooth ; the outer ones much shorter and broader ; corolla 

 and very hairy achenium large. — Dry sandy ridges, Florida. July- Sept. 

 Stem l°-2° high. 



7. L. gracilis, Pursh. Stem tomentose and somewhat hoary ; leaves 

 smooth or nearly so. the lowest lanceolate, obtuse, long-petioled, the others lin- 

 ear, appressed or spreading, short ; heads small, 3 - 7-flowered, sessile or on 

 slender tomentose and bracted pedicels ; scales of the involucre oblong, rather 



