Part 92 (1/2)

SUBaSPER, Gray, a rigid scabrous form, with contracted leafy inflorescence, the broad heads usually leafy-bracteate and the broader scales often obtuse. Ill. to Tex.

[=][=] _Heads small or middle-sized, the looser linear scales somewhat equal and erect, and the acute green tips not dilated, the outer often wholly herbaceous._

39. A. junceus, Ait. Slender, 1--3 high, simple with few heads or loosely branching; leaves linear or narrow, 3--5' long, entire or the lower spa.r.s.ely denticulate; heads small (3” high); scales small, narrow, in 2 or 3 rows, the outer more or less shorter; rays light purple, 4--5” long. (A. aestivus, previous ed., mainly.)--Wet meadows and cold bogs, N. Scotia and N. Y. to Mich. and Minn.

40. A. longiflius, Lam. (not of previous ed.) Stem 1--3 high, more or less branched and corymbosely panicled; leaves long-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate (3--7' long), narrowed to both ends, entire or spa.r.s.ely serrulate; heads 4--5” high, the scales nearly equal and usually little imbricated, the outer looser; rays 3--4” long, violet or purplish, rarely whitish.--Low grounds, Lab. and northern N. Eng. to Minn.--Var. VILLICAuLIS, Gray, a low simple form, with few or solitary heads, and the stem and midrib of the leaves densely white-villous beneath. N. Maine, at Fort Kent (_Miss Furbish_).

[=][=][=] _Heads middle-sized; scales in few to several rows, more or less unequal, linear to spatulate, more herbaceous and firmer, the tips often slightly spreading or squarrose._

41. A. Nvi-Belgii, L. Rarely tall; leaves oblong to linear-lanceolate, entire or spa.r.s.ely serrate, the upper partly clasping and often somewhat auriculate; heads 4--5” long; rays bright blue-violet. (A. longifolius, previous ed.)--N. Brunswick to Ill. and Ga. The commonest late-flowered Aster of the Atlantic border, and very variable. The typical form has thin narrowly to oblong-lanceolate leaves, sometimes scabrous above, and linear scales with narrow acute spreading or recurved tips.--Var.

LaeVIGaTUS, Gray, is usually glabrous throughout, the thin leaves mostly oblong-lanceolate, the upper half-clasping by an abrupt base; scales nearly equal, loosely erect, with short acutish tips. N. Eng. and eastward.--Var. LITREUS, Gray, rigid, usually low, very leafy; leaves thickish, usually very smooth, oblong to lanceolate, the upper sometimes auriculate; scales in several loose rows, all but the innermost with broadish obtuse tips, the outer usually spatulate. Salt-marshes and sh.o.r.es, Can. to Ga.--Var. ELDES, Gray, slender, often low and simple; leaves thickish, long, narrowly linear, entire, the uppermost small and bract-like; scales narrow, with short and mostly spreading acutish tips.

Swamps, N. J. to Va.

[++][++] _Cauline leaves conspicuously contracted into a winged-petiole-like base or auriculate-clasping; involucre lax._

42. A. patulus, Lam. Glabrous or subp.u.b.escent, 1--4 high; leaves ovate- or oblong-lanceolate, sharply serrate in the middle, narrowed at both ends, the lower to a winged petiole, none auriculate or only obscurely so; heads loosely panicled, about 4” high; scales unequal, erect or nearly so; rays light purple or white.--N. Brunswick and eastern N. England.

43. A. tardiflrus, L. Glabrous or stem somewhat p.u.b.escent (not hispid), 1--2 high; leaves lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, ac.u.minate, mostly with gradually narrowed and somewhat auricled base; heads often few, corymbose, 4--5” high; scales subequal, the outer foliaceous; rays pale violet.--Lab. to the Ma.s.s. coast and White Mts. Not late-flowering.

44. A. prenanthodes, Muhl. Stem 1--3 high, corymbose-panicled, hairy above in lines; leaves rough above, smooth underneath, ovate-lanceolate, sharply cut-toothed in the middle, conspicuously taper-pointed, and rather abruptly narrowed to a long contracted entire portion, which is abruptly dilated into a conspicuously auricled base; heads mostly 4”

high, on short divergent peduncles; scales narrowly linear, tips recurved spreading; rays light blue.--Borders of streams and rich woods, W. New Eng. to Penn., Iowa, and Wisc.

45. A. puniceus, L. Stem tall and stout 3--7 high, rough-hairy all over or in lines, usually purple below, panicled above; leaves oblong-lanceolate, not narrowed or but slightly so to the auricled base, coa.r.s.ely serrate to sparingly denticulate in the middle, rough above, nearly smooth beneath, pointed; heads 4--6” high, subsessile; scales narrowly linear, acute, loose, equal, in about 2 rows; rays long and showy (lilac-blue, paler in shade).--Low thickets and swamps, very common.--Var. LaeVICAuLIS, Gray; stem mostly green, smooth and naked below, spa.r.s.ely hirsute above, 1--3 high; leaves serrate.--Var.

LUCiDULUS, Gray; the very leafy stems glabrous or sparingly hispidulous; leaves lanceolate, entire or slightly denticulate, glabrous and somewhat s.h.i.+ning; heads usually numerous, the scales less loose and less attenuate.

-- 4. DLLINGeRIA. _Pappus manifestly double, the inner of long capillary bristles (some thickened at top), the outer of very short and rigid bristles; scales short, without herbaceous tips; heads small, corymbose or solitary; rays rather few, white; leaves not rigid, veiny._

46. A. umbellatus, Mill. Smooth, leafy to the top (2--7 high); _leaves lanceolate, elongated, taper-pointed_ and tapering at the base (3--6'

long); heads very numerous in compound flat corymbs; involucral scales rather close, obtusish, scarcely longer than the achenes. (Diplopappus umbellatus, _Torr. & Gray_.)--Moist thickets; common, especially northward. Aug.--Var. p.u.b.eNS, Gray; the lower surface of the leaves and the branchlets tomentulose. Upper Mich. to Minn.--Var. LATIFLIUS, Gray; with shorter leaves ovate-lanceolate to ovate, less narrowed or even rounded at base. (D. amygdalinus, _Torr. & Gray_.) Pine barrens, etc., N. J., Penn., and southward.

47. A. infirmus, Michx. Stem slender, often flexuous, 1--3 high, less leafy, bearing few or several heads on divergent peduncles; leaves obovate to ovate or oblong-lanceolate, narrowed at base and ciliate, the midrib hairy beneath; scales more imbricated, thicker and more obtuse; pappus more rigid. (D. cornifolius, _Darl._)--Open woodlands, E. Ma.s.s.

to Tenn., and southward.

-- 5. IaNTHE. _Pappus less distinctly double, the inner of bristles not thickened at top, the outer shorter; scales well imbricated, appressed, without herbaceous tips; rays violet; achenes narrow, villous; leaves numerous, rigid, small, linear, 1-nerved and veinless._

48. A. linariiflius, L. Stems 3--20' high, several from a woody root; heads solitary or terminating simple branches, rather large; leaves about 1' long, rough-margined, pa.s.sing above into the rigid acutish scales. (D. linariifolius, _Hook_.)--Dry soil, common. Sept., Oct. Ray rarely white.

-- 6. ORTHoMERIS. _Pappus simple; scales imbricated, appressed, without herbaceous tips, often scarious-edged or dry. Perennial, as all the preceding._

49. A. ptarmicodes, Torr. & Gray. Smooth or roughish; stems cl.u.s.tered (6--20' high), simple; _leaves linear-lanceolate, acute, rigid_, entire, tapering to the base, 1--3-nerved, with rough margins (2--4' long); _heads small, in a flat corymb_; scales imbricated in 3 or 4 rows, short; _rays white_ (2--4” long).--Dry rocks, W. New Eng. to Minn., along the Great Lakes, and northward. Aug.--Var. LUTeSCENS, Gray; rays small, pale yellow.--N. Ill. to Sask.

50. A. ac.u.minatus, Michx. Somewhat hairy; stem (about 1 high) simple, zigzag, panicled-corymbose at the summit; peduncles slender; _leaves oblong-lanceolate, conspicuously pointed, coa.r.s.ely toothed_ above, wedge-form and entire at the base; involucral scales few and loosely imbricated, linear-lanceolate, pointed, thin (3--5” long); heads few or several; rays 12--18, white, or slightly purple.--Cool rich woods; S.

Lab. to Penn., and southward along the Alleghanies. Aug.--There is a depauperate narrow-leaved variety on the White Mountains. A monstrous form occurs in Maine, having a chaffy receptacle and the flowers turned to tufts of chaffy paleae.

51. A. nemoralis, Ait. Minutely roughish-p.u.b.escent; stem slender, simple or corymbose at the summit, very leafy (1--2 high); _leaves_ small (1--1' long), rather _rigid, lanceolate_, nearly _entire, with revolute margins_; scales of the inversely conical involucre narrowly linear-lanceolate, the outer pa.s.sing into awl-shaped bracts; rays lilac-purple, elongated.--Bogs and swamps, N. J. to Newf. and Hudson's Bay. Sept.

52. A. tenuiflius, L. Very glabrous; stem often zigzag, simple or forked, 6'--2 high; heads rather large, terminal; _leaves few, long-linear, tapering to both ends, rather thick and fleshy, entire_, the upper subulate, pointed; involucre top-shaped, the scales subulate-lanceolate with attenuate acute points; rays large, numerous, pale purple. (A. flexuosus, _Nutt._)--Salt marshes, Ma.s.s. to Fla. Sept.