Wet places nearly throughout the United States, especially near the coast
and along rivers. July—Aug.— 21 Stem 3-6 feet high. Scales of the involucre
brownish-purple, mostly ciliate with cobweb-like hairs. Corolla deep
purple, rarely pale or pink-color.—Iron-weed.
3. V. Baldwinii (Torr.): stem and lanceolate serrulate leaves tomentose-
pubescent; cyme fastigiate, somewhat crowded; heads 20-30-flowered;
involucre subglobose, tomentose and glandular, shorter than the mature pappus,
squarrose with the very short recurved acuminate tips of the appressed
scales; achenia (immature) puberulent. and glandular, shorter than the pappus.—
Torr.! in ann. lyc. New York, 2. p. 211. V. sphseroidea, Nutt. ! in
trans. Amer. phil. soc. (n. ser.) 7. p. 284. (ined.)
On the Missouri, Baldwin! Arkansas, Nuttall!— 21 Plant in some respects
intermediate between V. Noveboracensis and V. fasciculata, but probably
distinct from both ; the heads mostly smaller than in the former.
4. V. fasciculata (Michx.) : stem striate or grooved ; leaves narrowly lanceolate,
tapering and acute at each end, serrulate, sometimes puncticulate beneath,
often somewhat petioled ; cyme fastigiate; theheads numerous, approximate
or crowded, 15-30-flowered ; involucre hemispherical-eampanulate,
much shorter than the pappus; the scales all closely appressed, ciliate; the
outermost much shorter, acute or mucronulate; the others obtuse, not mucro-
nate; achenia glabrous when mature, and almost the length of the pappus.—
Michx.! Jl. 2. p. 94. (not of DC.) V. altissima, Less, in Linneea, 6. p.
639. V. prtealta, D C .! 1. c. (chiefly, excl. syn. Dill. Elth. ?); not of L in n .!
Chrysocoma gigantea, Walt. ? Y. corymbosa, Schweinitz. ! in Long's
2nd exped.
{3. stem and lower surface of the leaves puberulent or almost tomentose ;
heads rather large ; the scales of the involucre mostly very obtuse.
y. stem and lower surface of the leaves often puberulent; heads small;
scales of the involucre sometimes rather acute or mucronulate.—Y. altissima,
Nutt.! gen. 2. p. 134 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 289.
6. nearly glabrous; heads rather small; the scales greenish; flowers
nearly white.
Prairies and moist woods, throughout the Western States ! and not unfrequent,
particularly yar. y., in the Southern States ! /?. Illinois, Dr. Short!
S. Kentucky, Dr. Short! July—Aug.— 2J Stem tall (6-12 feet, Nutt.) and
stout. Cyme usually dense and fastigiate, or sometimes loose and spreading.
Flowers (except in var. <S.) bright purple. Pappus either pale or purple.—
This species varies greatly in the size of its heads, and in the cymes : it is
distinguished by its closely appressed and inappendiculate (usually rounded)
involucral scales; the tips of which are mostly purple. The leaves, in one
of the forms with small loosely disposed heads, are often rather broadly lanceolate,
and 6 to 8 inches long.
5. V. Jamesii: stem nearly glabrous, striate, corymbose at the summit;
leaves (upperones) narrowly lanceolate, elongated, sessile, glabrous, 1 -nerved,
entire, both sides puncticulate; cyme corymbose-fastigiate; heads (about 40)
15—20-flowered, rather large ; involucre oblong-campanulate or turbinate,
acute at the base, shorter than the pappus ; the scales all appressed, lanceolate
ovate, acuminate or somewhat mucronate, ciliate; achenia glabrous,
shorter than the pappus ; the exterior chaffy pappus very indistinct.—V. altissima?
/3. marginata, Torr. ! in ann. lyc. New York, 2. p. 2f0.
On the Arkansas ? Dr. James!—The specimen is imperfect, consisting
only of a branch or the summit of a stem ; hut it is abundantly different from
any other N. American species. The heads are half an inch in length, more
elongated than usual; the scales bordered with an arachnoid web, as in many
other species, and greenish, with reddish tips. The corymbose branches
of the inflorescence hear 3 to 7 heads, which are mostly on slender pedicels.
6. V. angustifolia (Michx.): stem slender, simple or branched, hairy below;
leaves numerous, sessile or nearly so, linear or narrowly lanceolate,
often pubescent especially on the midrib beneath ; the lower remotely serrulate
; the uppermost with revolute margins, mostly entire ; cyme corymbose
or somewhat umbelliform, often simple; heads 15-25-flowered ; involucre
campanulate, shorter than the pappus ; the scales ovate or lanceolate, the
exterior mostly loose and bracteolate, either mucronate or furnished with subulate
or filiform points; achenia minutely hispid on the ribs, much shorter
than the pappus.—Michx.! Jl. 2. p. 94.
a. upper leaves slender, very narrowly linear, entire, glabrous or scabrous
(scales of the involucre either appendiculate or merely mucronate).—Y.
angustifolia, Ell. sk. 2. p. 287 ; Less. 1. c .; DC. prodr. 5. p. 63. V.
fasciculata, DC.! 1. c., not of Michx. Chrysocoma graminifblia, Walt.!
Car. p . 196.
p. leaves lanceolate or linear, short, scabrous, especially above; the lower
ones serrulate; scales of the involucre mostly appendiculate.—V. scaberri-
ma, Nutt. ! gen. 2. p. 134 ; Ell. 1. c .; Less. 1. c. ; DC. ! 1. c.
y. leaves lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, elongated, very scabrous above ;
the lower ones remotely serrulate ; cymes often compound; scales of the involucre
nearly inappendiculate.
Dry pine woods, N. Carolina! to Florida! (a. & /?,) y. Louisiana, Dr.
Hale! Texas, Drummond! June-Aug.—2J Stern 1-3 feet high. Cyme
bearing 5-many (small) heads, either simple or compound, loose. Scales of
the involucre few. Pappus white or purplish. Corolla bright purple.
Achenia often glandular.—The lower leaves of the most narrow-leaved form
are veiny, as in the other varieties ; while the upper ones, being very narrow,
are only one-nerved. The original specimens of both V. angustifolia,
Michx., and V. scaberrima, Nutt., belong, if we mistake not, to precisely the
same form of this species. No reliance can be placed upon the appendages
of the involucral scales.
7. V. ovalifolia: stem simple, pubescent below, corymbose at the summit
; leaves oval or lanceolate-oblong, acute, sessile, sharply serrate, veiny,
nearly smooth and glabrous; cyme corymbose-fastigiate, loose ; the heads
about 20-flowered; involucre campanulate, much shorter than the pappus;
the scales ovate, appressed, mostly acute or somewhat mucronate ; achenia
a little hairy, much shorter than the pappus.
Middle Florida, Dr. Chapman ! also near Fort King, Mr. Alden!—Stem
apparently 3-4 feet high, and rather stout, terete, finely striate above.
Leaves 3-4 inches long, and 1-2 or more wide. Heads rather numerous ;
the involucre and flowers much resembling those of V. angustifolia, but
mostly larger. Achenia glandular between the ribs : pappus purplish.
8. V. Arkansana (DC.): nearly glabrous; stem stout, simple, striate;
leaves numerous, lanceolate-linear, acute at each end, obscurely veined, serrulate,
punctate, especially above ; heads 6- 10, in a simple umbelliform
cyme, the central one nearly sessile, subglobose, 50-60-flowered; involucre
nearly as long as the pappus ; the scales very numerous, lanceolate, pubescent
and glandular, with spreading or squarrose subulate tip s; achenia
strongly 10-ribbed, puberulent and minutely glandular, nearly the length of
the pappus.—DC. prodr. 7. p. 264.
Arkansas, Nuttall! Dr. Pitcher !—The plant of De Candolle (which was
raised in the Geneva garden from seeds collected in Arkansas by Mr. Pour-
tales) appears to be the same with ours. But he does not mention the size of
the heads, which in our plant when in fruit are nearly an inch in diameter,
and then depressed-globosef and the pedicels are remarkably thickened at
the summit. Corolla violet-purple. Exterior pappus short, but copious.