COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 23? 



§ 2. EUERfGERON, Torr. & Gr. Rays elongated, crowded in one or more rows: 

 pappus simple. (Erect perennials: heads somewhat corymbed, middle-sized.) 



4. E. bellidifolium, Muhl. (Robin's Plantain.) Hairy, producing 

 offsets from the base: stem simple, rather naked above, bearing few (1-9) large 

 heads on slender peduncles, root-leaves obovate and spatulate, sparingly toothed ; 

 those of the stem distant, lanceolate-oblong, partly clasping, entire ; rays (about 

 50) rather broad, light bluish-purple. — Copses and moist banks : common. May. 



5. E. Philadelphia U.m, L. (Common Fleabane.) Hairy; stem leafy, 

 corymbed, bearing several small heads ; leaves thin, with a broad midrib, ob- 

 long ; the upper smoothish, clasping by a heart-shaped base, mostly entire ; the 

 lowest spatulate, toothed ; rays innumerable and very narrow, rose-purple or flesh- 

 color. (E. purpureum, Ait.) — Moist ground : common. June -Aug. 



§ 3. STENACTIS, Cass. Outermost bristles of the pappus short and minute, or 

 rather chaffy, forming an external series : otherwise as § 2. 



6. E. glabellum, Nutt. Stem (6'- 15' high) stout, hairy above, the 

 leafless summit bearing 1-7 large heads ; leaves nearly glabrous, except the 

 margins, entire, the upper oblong-lanceolate and pointed, closely sessile or 

 partly clasping, the lower spatulate and petioled ; rays (more than 100, purple) 

 more than twice the length of the hoary -hispid involucre. — Plains N. Wiscon- 

 sin, and westward. June. 



§ 4. PHALACROLOMA, Cass. Rays numerous, but nearly in a single row, con- 

 spicuous : pappus plainly double, the outer a crown of minute chaffy-bristle-form 

 scales ; the inner of scanty capillary bristles which are deciduous, or entirely 

 wanting in the ray : annuals and biennials. 



7. E. annuum, Pers. (Daisy Fleabane. Sweet Scabious.) Stem 

 stout (3° -5° high), branched, beset with spreading hairs; leaves coarsely and 

 sharply toothed; the lowest ovate, tapering into a margined petiole.; the upper 

 ovate-lanceolate, acute and entire at both ends ; heads corymbed ; rays white, 

 ringed with purple, not twice the length of the bristly involucre. (E. hetero- 

 phyllum, Muhl. E. strigosum, Bigel.) — Fields and waste places : a very com- 

 mon weed. June -Aug. (Nat. in Eu.) 



8. E. Strigdsum, Muhl. (Daisy Fleabane.) Stem panicled-corym- 

 bose at the summit, roughish like the leaves ivith minute appressed hairs, or almost 

 smooth ; leaves entire or nearly so, the upper lanceolate, scattered, the lowest ob- 

 long or spatulate, tapering into a slender petiole ; rays white, twice the length 

 of the minutely hairy involucre. (E. integrifblium, Bigel.) — Fields, &c. : com- 

 mon. June- Aug. — Stem smaller and* more simple than the last, with smaller 

 heads but longer rays. — Var. discoideum, Robbins, has the rays minute, 

 scarcely exceeding the involucre. — Uxbridge, Massachusetts, and adjacent parts 

 of Connecticut and Rhode Island, Dr. Robbins. 



§ 5. ERIGERfDIUM, Torr. & Gr. Rays about 30, in a single row, rather 

 broad : pappus simple : achenia mostly ^-nerved : root perennial. 



9. E. vernum, Torr. & Gr. Glabrous ; leaves clustered at the root, 

 oval or spatulate; scape leafless, slender (1°- 2° high), bearing 5-12 small 

 corymbed heads ; rays white. (E. nudicaule, Michx. Aster vernus, L.) — Low 

 grounds, E. Virginia and southward. May. 



