COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 225 



summer. (Dedicated to Eapator Mithridates, who is said to have used a species 

 of the genus in medicine.) 



* Heads cylindrical, 5 - 15-flowered ; the purplish scales numerous, closely imbricated 



in several rows, of unequal length, slightly striate : stout herbs, with ample mostly 

 whorled leaves, and flesh-colored flowers. 



1. E. purpureum, L. (Joe-Pye Weed. Trumpet- Weed.) Stems tall 

 and stout, simple ; leaves 3 - 6 in a whorl, oblong-ovate or lanceolate, pointed, 

 very veiny, roughish, toothed ; corymbs very dense and compound. — Varies 

 greatly in size (2° -12° high), &c, and with spotted or unspotted, often dotted 

 stems, &c, — including several nominal species. — Low grounds: common. 



* * Heads 3 - 20-flowered : involucre of 8-15 more or less imbricated and unequal 



scales, the outer ones shorter : flowers white. 

 ■*- Leaves all alternate, mostly dissected : heads panickd, very small, 3 - 5-flowered. 



2. E. fcenicul&ceum, Willd. Smooth or nearly so, paniculately much- 

 branched (3° -10° high); leaves 1 - 2-pinnately parted, filiform. — Virginia, 

 near the coast, and southward. Adv. near Philadelphia. 



■+- -»- Leaves mostly opposite and sessile : heads 5 - %-flowered, corymbed. 



3. E. hyssopifblium, L. Minutely pubescent (l°-2° high); leaves 

 narrow, linear or lanceolate, elongated, obtuse, 1-3-nerved, entire, or the lower 

 toothed, often crowded in the axils, acute at the base ; scales of the involucre obtuse. 

 — Sterile soil, Massachusetts to Virginia, E. Kentucky and southward. 



4. E. leucolepis, Torr. & Gr. Minutely pubescent, simple (l°-2°high); 

 leaves linear-lanceolate, closely sessile, l-nerved, obtuse, serrate, rough both sides; 

 corymb hoary ; scales of the involucre with white and scarious acute tips. — Sandy 

 bogs, Long Island, New Jersey, and southward. 



5. E. parviflbrum, Ell. Minutely velvety-pubescent, branching (2° -3° 

 high) ; leaves lanceolate or oblong, triple-ribbed and veiny, serrate above the middle, 

 tapering to the base, the lower slightly petioled ; scales of the short involucre 

 obtuse. (Leaves sometimes whorled in threes, or the upper alternate.) — Damp 

 soil, Virginia and southward. 



6. E. altissimum, L. Stem stout and tall (3° -7° high), downy; leaves 

 lanceolate, tapering at both ends, conspicuously 3-nerced, entire, or toothed above the 

 middle, the uppermost alternate ; corymbs dense ; scales of the involucre obtuse, 

 shorter than the flowers. — Dry soil, Pennsylvania to Illinois and Kentucky. — 

 Leaves 3 f -4' long, somewhat like those of a Solidago. 



7. E. album, L. Ronghish-hairy (2° high) ; leaves oblong-lanceolate, coarsely 

 toothed, veiny ; heads clustered in the corymb; scales of the involucre closely imbri- 

 cated, rigid, narrowly lanceolate, pointed, white and scarious above, longer than the 

 flowers. — Sandy and barren places, pine barrens of New Jersey to Virginia and 

 southward. 



8. E. teucrifblium, Willd. Roughish-pubescent (2° -3° high); leaves 

 ovate-oblong and ovate-lanceolate, obtuse or truncate at the base, slightly triple- 

 nerved, veiny, coarsely toothed or incised toivards the base, the upper ones alternate' 

 branches of the corymb few, unequal ; scales of the involucre oblong-lanceolate, rather 

 obtuse, at length shorter than the flowers. (E. verbensefolium, Michx.) — Low 

 grounds, Massachusetts to Virginia ana southward near the coast. 



15 



