here arranged (/3. y. & <5.) are undoubtedly different' forms or states of one
and the same well-marked species, differing in no respect except the devel-
opement of the inllorescence, which affords most fallacious characters in this
genus. There is an obvious tendency to branch in the inflorescence of all
the racemose species, which is manifest, not only when the summit of the
stem receives an injury, but in most very vigorous individuals; an almost
necessary result ot the successive developement of the heads from the apex
of the stem or branch downwards, or outwards, (in which the plants with a
racemiform disposition of the heads do not differ from other Composite,)
which effectually preventing farther growth from the summit, the powers
of the plant are directed to the production of additional heads, either from the
axils of the upper cauline leaves, or of the bracts with which the pedicels
(peduncles), especially the lower ones, are usually furnished. This is particularly
exemplified in the present species ; which exhibits almost every gradation
between the simple racemiform inflorescence, and a kind of panicle
which results from the developement throughout of lateral heads on the
otherwise simple branches.—We regret that we have not been able to settle
the synonymy of several species in this difficult genus. Mr. Bennett, who
has most obligingly compared fragments from our specimens of this and
other allied species with those preserved in the Banksian herbarium, considers
our var. /3. as probably identical with the Liatris gracilis of Pursh ; the differences
consisting chiefly ip the degree of pubescence, and the length of the
peduncles or branches of the inflorescence. As the (unexpanded) heads in
Pursh’s specimen are globose-ovate and at least 6-flowered, we were strongly
inclined to consider that plant identical with a form of the following species;
but Mr. Bennett, on comparing the two, did not recognize the resemblance.
If the species here described should prove distinct from L.-gracilis,
it will retain the appropriate name of L. pauciflosculosa, Nutt.
10. L. graininifolia (Willd. ?) : glabrous or sparsely hairy; stem slender ;
leaves linear, somewhat scattered, 1-nerved, usually ciliate towards the base
with scattered hispid hairs; the lowermost elongated ; heads 7 -9 -(rarely
10-14-) flowered, spicate or racemose, sometimes partly paniculate; involucre
obovoid-turbinate or broadly obconical, acute at the base ; the scales (12-
20) regularly imbricated in several series, appressed, spatulate or oblong,
very obtuse, sometimes slightly mueronulate, mostly resinous-punctate and
with slight scarious margins ; "the exterior very short, roundish-oval or obo-
vate ; achenia villous-pubescent; pappus densely barbellate.—Anonymos
graminifolius & ramosus, Walt. Car. p. 197 ?
а. heads rather small, 7-9-flowered, mostly sessile and rather remote,
forming a slender spike ; lower bracts longer, the uppermost shorter than the
heads.—L. graminifolia, {Pursh, Jl. 2. p. 508 ?) Nutt. kgen. 2. p. 131 ;
E ll.! sk. 2. p. 274; D C .! prodr. 5. p. 130, (excl. pi. cult.", which belongs
to L. spicata!)
j8. heads larger, 7-14-flowered. (Varies, 1. with the heads few or numerous,
somewhat scattered, sessile or nearly so : 2. heads few or numerous, in
a simple raceme; the pedicels sometimes shorter, sometimes much longer
than the heads, erect-spreading or slightly recurved : 3. heads numerous,
approximate, sessile; the inflorescence branched below, the heads on the
short simple branches also sessile.)—Serratula foliis linearibus, floribus soli-
tariis sessilibus, Gronov.! Jl. Virg. ed. l .p . 92.
y. heads small, 6- 12-flowered, on spreading or often recurved pedicels,
forming a long virgate raceme, sometimes compound or paniculate at the
base.—L. gracilis, Ell. 1. c., not of Pursh ? L. pilosa gracilis, Nutt. 1. c.
L. virgata, Nutt.! in jour. acad. Philad. 7. p. 72, \ i n trans. Amer. Phil,
soc. (ri. ser.) 7. p. 284 (inflorescence compound).
б. ? heads rather larger, 7-12-flowered, spicate, or racemose, with the
pedicels short and erect, or sometimes with the inflorescence compound
below; scales of the involucre somewhat narrower and less rounded at the
summit, usually ciliate.—L. pilosa, Pursh, l. c. (chiefly); Nutt. 1. c .; E ll.!
sk. 2. p. 277, “ var. dubia” (the inflorescence compound below); Lindl. bot.
reg. t. 595 (“ /3. gracilis” ); Lodd. bot. cat. t. 356; not of Willd. (Ait.) L.
pilosa /3. lsevieaulis, DC.! prodr. 5. p. 131. L. spicata y. racemosa, DC.!
1. c. p. 130. L. dubia, Bart. veg. mat. med. 2. p. 222, t. 49. “ L. turbinata,
Sweet, in Loud. hort. Brit." Anonymos ciliatus, Walt. Car. p. 197?
Pine barreus, often in wet places, New Jersey! (var. <5. ?) to Alabama!
and Florida! common. Aug.-Oct.—Stem 1—4 feet high. Heads as large
or larger than in L. spicata, in var. a. & y. smaller.—Our chief doubts respecting
the plants here brought together, relate to var. <5.?, which is very
properly called L. dubia by Barton, and which varies between this species
and L. spicata, while it presents no characters that we can seize upon to distinguish
it as a separate species. The chief distinctions between this species
and L. spicata consist in the usually larger, fewer, and more scattered heads;
the more regularly imbricated scales of the obconical or obovate involucre,
diminishing successively to the outermost., which are very short; the more
hairy and Shorter achenia, &c. We are by no means certain that we have
correctly referred this species to the L. graminifolia of Willdenow, which
appears to have been derived from Muhlenberg; in whose herbarium several
species are mingled under this name. Our remarks upon the inflorescence
of the preceding, apply equally to the present species; and it may also
be remarked, that the heads of thé compound portion of the inflorescence are
frequently smaller and fewer-flowered than the others. We have an interesting
variety, or state, sent from Middle Florida by Dr. Chapman ; a plant
at least six feet high, the inflorescence of which exceeds three feet in length,
consisting of a dense virgate raceme (more than 2 feet long) of crowded
heads, on spreading or recurved pedicels not larger than the heads themselves,
which at, the apex are ’as large as is usual in this species, but very
gradually diminish in size towards the base: below the inflorescence is compound,
consisting of numerous filiform branches, 2-4 inches long; bearing
several mostly sessile heads, which are seldom more than half the size
of those at the summit, of the raceme.—In a single cultivated specimen of
the paniculate state of this species, Mr. Nuttall ( Trans. Amer. phil. soc. 1. c.)
remarked chaffy scales intermixed among the flowers. This accidental occurrence,
however, will hardly be thought to overthrow a genus so well
marked by habit as Carphephorus proves to be.
1 1 . L. spicata (Willd.): glabrous, or rarely pubescent; stem strict, very
leafy; leaves linear, acute; often ciliate towards the base; the upper ones
very short, often subulate; the lowermost elongated, 3-5-nerved; heads
about 8- (sometimes 10-13-) flowered, sessile, aggregated in a dense elongated
spike; involucre cylindrical or cylindrical-campanulate, obtuse at the
base; the scales (15-20) appressed, resinous-punctate and with narrow scarious
(purplish) margins, obtuse; the inneroblong; the exterior oval orround-
ish, short; achenia more or less hairy or pubescent, or almost glabrous when
mature; pappus densely barbellate.— Willd.! spec. 3. p. 1636; Bot. mag.
t. 1411; Ell. sk. 2. p. 273; Brit. Jl. gard. t. 49; Nutt.! gen. 2. p. 131.;
Darlingt.' Jl. Cest. p. 448 ; D C .! prodr. 5. p. 130. (a. & /3.) L. macrosta-
chya, Michx. ! jl. 2 p. 91; Pursh, l. c. Serratula spicata, L in n .! spec. 2.
p. 819 (excl. svn. Gronov■); Andr. bot. rep. t. 401. Suprago spicata,
Gcertn. fr . 2. p. 402, t. 167. Cirsium tuberosum, &c. Dill. Èlth. t. 72,
ƒ. 83.
/3. heads about 5-flowered; plant smaller.—L. resinosa, Nutt.! gen. 2.
p. 131, not of DC.
Moist ground, Michigan! and New Jersey! to Florida! and Louisiana!
common. Aug.-Oct.—Stem 2-5 feet high. Leaves often hairy on the
nerves, spreading or somewhat erect. Spike 5-15 inches long; the heads
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