numerous, and the attenuated and longer exterior involucral scales exactly
resemble them, giving the involucre a squarrose appearance. The extreme
forms would seem to belong to different species (although no other difference
is observable); but a full suite of specimens furnishes every gradation
between them.—No species could less deserve the name of S. petiolaris
than this, at least in its ordinary forms : if the leaves may be said to be
petioled, they are so slightly so, that we believe no author has identified the
plant by the character; but, as this is certainly the plant described in the
Hortus Kewensis, as well as by Smith, we do not feel at liberty to reject it.
—For his S. erecta, Pursh cites Herb. Banks, mss. ; but there are no specimens
with this name in the Banksian herbarium : he not improbably had
the present species in view, to which his short character is not inapplicable.
—The S. petiolaris of the Berlin Garden, 1839 (and of Link. enum. ?) is
S. Virga-Aurea. The S. petiolaris, Thuillier, of the Paris and some other
gardens, is S. Narbonensis, Pourr. (Vide S. elata.)
18. S- angusta: stem strict and simple, leafy, slightly scabrous; leaves
lanceolate, mucronate-acute, tapering to the base, sessile, sparsely veined,
with a prominent midrib, glabrous, with ciliate-scabrous margins; the lowermost
obscurely serrate towards the apex; the others entire; heads (rather
large) in a contracted raceme; scales of the almost glabrous involucre lanceolate
; the outermost subulate, loose, or at length squarrose-spreading, somewhat
herbaceous; rays about 10, elongated; achenia glabrous.
Alexandria, Western Louisiana, Dr. Hale! Arkansas near the Hot
Springs, Dr. Engelmann ! Sept.—Stem 3—4 feet high, virgate, very leafy
throughout, glabrous below, scabrous-puberulent towards the summit. Leaves
bright green above, pale beneath, oblanceolate, ciliate with minute and close
uncinate hairs; the midrib and the few veins rather prominent on the lower
surface ; the lower 3 inches or more in length, and nearly three-fourths
of an inch in width; the upper gradually diminishing in size, and less veiny.
Heads resembling those of S. petiolaris, 2 to 4 upon the short peduncles,
which are disposed in a narrow somewhat crowded raceme 4-6 inches long,
25-30-flowered. Involucre and pedicels apparently slightly viscid. Rays
conspicuous, deep yellow. Achenia and ovaries perfectly glabrous.
19. S. stricta (Ait.): smooth and glabrous throughout; stem strict and
very simple; leaves lanceolate, acute ; the radical and lower cauline sparingly
appressed-serrate, tapering into winged somewhat sheathing petioles;
the upper sessile, entire; racemes (simple or compound) appressed, numerous,
forming a crowded and very strict virgate panicle, which is usually
leafy towards the base ; heads (rather small) 8-12-flowered ; scales of the
cylindrical involucre linear-oblong, obtuse; rays 5-6, small; achenia glabrous.—
Ait. ! Kew. (ed. 1) 3. p. 216; Willd. spec. 3. p. 2062; Pursh, jl.
2. p. 540? (excl. habitat): Richards, appx. Frankl. journ. ed. 2. p. 33;
Hook. ! Jl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 4 (excl. Saskatchewan spec.); DC. prodr. 5. p.
340 ? S. uliginosa, Nutt. ! in jour. acad. Philad. 7. p. 101, partly ?
Sphagnous swamps, Newfoundland ! Hudson’s Bay! (Herb. Banks) &c.
to Massachusetts! and the Western part of New York ! July-Aug.—Stem
1-3 feet high, virgate, usually purple, perfectly smooth to the summit, even
the peduncles and pedicels glabrous or very nearly so. Leaves of a firm
texture, with a strong midrib, and several straight veins, the veinlets of the
pale lower surface minutely reticulated: the radical (appearing in the autumn
preceding flowering, and remaining through the winter) 6-10 inches
long, an inch to an inch and a half wide in the middle, tapering to each end
(the primordial obtuse), the base attenuate into a carinate petiole about the
same length ; the lower cauline similar, but with shorter sheathing petioles ;
the _ upper gradually reduced in size and breadth.—A northern species,
distinguished by its smoothness, elongated-lanceolate willow-like leaves (the
popular name applied in Hortus Kewensis, “ Willow-leaved Golden Rod,”
is appropriate); the panicle narrow and perfectly strict (6 to 18 inches long,
and only 1-2 wide), entirely in fruit by the middle of September; the achenia
entirely glabrous, or rarely presenting a few minute scattered hairs, under a
lens.—A near approach to this species is sometimes observed in narrow-
leaved^ states of S. neglecta, with short racemes, at first scarcely if at all
spreading or secund.
20. <S. speciosa (Nutt.) : stem simple, stout, glabrous; the summit, with
the peduncles and pedicels hirsute-pubescent; leaves thickish, smooth and
glabrous, with densely scabrous-ciliolate margins; the lower oval or ovate,
narrowed into a margined petiole, somewhat serrate, the upper lanceolate or
oblong-lanceolate, entire; racemes numerous, erect, forming a pyramidal or
thyrsiform (usually ample) panicle ; heads (pretty large) on short pedicels,
somewhat crowded or glomerate; scales of the cylindrical nearly glabrous
involucre oblong, obtuse; rays about 5, large; achenia very glabrous.—
Nutt. ! gen. 2. p. 160 (excl. syn. Pers.); Darlingt.! jl. Cest. p. 459.
S. sempervirens, Michx.! Jl. 2. p. 119, not of Linn. S. petiolaris, Muhl.!
cat. p. 79 ; Bart. jl. Phil. 2. p . 121; not of Ait.
/?. angustata: smaller, less pubescent at the summit; racemes short and
glomerate, forming a narrow and dense, interrupted or somewhat compound
spike.—S. erecta ? Ell. ! sk. 2. p . 385 ; DC. prodr. 5. p. 340?
7- rigidiuscula : heads smaller; panicle strict; peduncles and summit of
the stem less pubescent; leaves nearly all entire and smaller, lanceolate or
oblong, more rigid.
Borders of woods &c. (Canada, Michaux) Massachusetts ! and Ohio ! to
Kentucky! and Florida! /?. New Jersey! North Carolina! South Carolina!
Kentucky! &c. y. St. Louis, Missouri and Texas, Drummond! Dr.
Engelmann! Louisiana, Dr. Leavenworth! Prairies between the Mississippi
and Missouri Rivers, Mr. Nicollet! Aug.-Oct__Stem 2i to 5 or even
6 feet high, stout, erect, glabrous and often purple; the summit and the
branches of the inflorescence pubescent, in a greater or less degree, with short
and close jointed hairs, not unfrequently almost hirsute. Radical leaves
6 inches or more in length, and 2-4 wide, sharply serrate, petioled; the
lower cauline ample, 4-6 inches long, 1-2, or often 3 inches wide, acute or
slightly acuminate, narrowed into a slight margined petiole, thickish, very
smooth except the margins, with a rather strong midrib ; the primary veins
seldom prominent; the veinlets very copiously and minutely reticulated;
upper leaves successively much reduced in size ; the primary veins obscure
and similar to the immersed, inconspicuous, but finely reticulated veinlets.
Panicle very showy, 6-18 inches in length, composed of numerous, rigid,
dense or spicate racemes, which vary from 1 to 5 inches in length. Heads
crowded, 12-16-(rarely 18-) flowered, large for the number of flowers they
contain, but somewhat variable in size. Scales of the involucre 1-nerved,
pale, with greenish summits, glabrous or nearly so, appressed, large; the
exterior oval or oblong, short, very obtuse; the innermost linear-oblong, sometimes
acutish. Rays conspicuous, deep yellow.—A very showy species,
varying considerably in the size of the leaves, and in the panicle, which in
some specimens is very large and compound; in others small and simple.
The var. /?. is a reduced state, growing in poor soil; its contracted inflorescence
often simulating S. bicolor, for which indeed it has sometimes been mistaken.
Yar. y., which probably grows in more arid situations, has smaller heads as
well as leaves; the latter often conspicuously veined and more rigid.
21. S. verna (M. A. Curtis! mss.): softly cinereous-pubescent; stem
erect or ascending, loosely paniculate at the summit; the branches nearly
naked; leaves scattered, veiny, minutely tomentose beneath; the radical
and lower cauline ovate or oval, finely serrate, abruptly narrowed into mar