sessile or nearly so, mostly crowded, about half an inch in length: lower
bracts longer, the upper much shorter than the heads. Flowers bright purple.
Achenia about the length of the pappus.—The number of flowers in
the head is variable. (Mr. G. Watson has discovered, near Philadelphia,
a state of this plant with pale pink, or sometimes pure white flowers.)—Button
Snake-root.
12. L . pycnostachya: hirsute or nearly glabrous; stem stout, strict, very
leafy; leaves strict, rigid, closely sessile, and partly clasping at the base;
the radical and lower ones elongated, lanceolate, obtuse, 5- 7-nerve,d; the upper
short and much crowded, narrowly linear, acute; spike elongated, thick
and dense, somewhat leafy below; the heads closely sessile, about 5-flow-
ered; involucre cylindrical; the scales (14-16) oblong or lanceolate, usually
acute, with searious and colored margins, scarcely punctate, rigid, appressed,
squarrose at the summit; achenia pubescent; pappus densely barbellate.—
Michx.! fl. 2. p. 91; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 507 (excl. syn. Dill. Sf Walt.?);
jDC* l• c.
a. stem densely hirsute; leaves more or less hairy; scales of the involucre
strongly ciliate, often glandular.
/?. stem, leaves, and involucre nearly glabrous.—L. brachystachya, Nutt.!
in jour. acad. Philad. 7. p. 72.
Prairies of Illinois! Missouri! Arkansas! Louisiana! & Texas! (notextending
eastward beyond the Alleghany Mountains.) Aug.-Oct.—Stem 3-5 feet
high, striate, stout. Spike very dense, cylindrical, and 12-18 inches long, or
often short and somewhat clavate, an inch or more in diameter when fully
developed ; sometimes (in starved specimens of both varieties) slender and
looser. Heads equalling or exceeding those of L. spicata in length, but
narrower.-—A well-marked species, resembling some forms of L. spicata, but
readily distinguished by its squarrose involucre. The upper leaves are
usually very short, bract-like, subulate, and somewhat appressed.
13. L . pilosa (Wilid.) : more or less pubescent with long scattered hairs ;
stem stout; leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, elongated, hairy ; heads in a
loose simple raceme, 10—15-flowered ; scales of the turbinate or campanulate
involucre glabrous, not punctate, with slight searious margins; the exterior
narrowly oblong, short, very obtuse; the innermost linear; achenia pubescent,
nearly as long as the densely barbellate (almost plumose) pappus.__
Wilid. spec. 3. p. 1636; scarcely of any succeeding author. Serratula pilosa,
A i t . ! Kew. (ed. 1)3. p. 138.
“ North America : introduced [into the Kew garden] 1783, by Mr. Wm.
Young.” Hart. Kew. 1. c. On Seven-mile Mountain (in the Alleghanies),
Virginia, Mr. Read ! (in herb. Acad. Philad.)—Plant nearly as stout as L.
scariosa. Heads somewhat scattered, 8-10 lines long, on pedicels which
vary in length from 1-3 inches, or are sometimes shorter than the head.
Interior scales of the involucre narrow, rather acute, about half an inch long.
Achenia and pappus nearly equal in size to L. scariosa,—Our description is
drawn from our own memoranda upon an authentic specimen in the Banks-
ian herbarium, and from fuller notes kindly communicated by Mr. Bennett;
also from a plant collected in the mountains of Virginia by Mr. Read,
the only native specimen we have met with, which accords so well with the
original plant as to leave no reasonable doubt of their identity. It has long
since disappeared from the English gardens; and being probably a very rare
or local species, the name and insufficient character of the Hortus Kewensis
have been generally assigned to a very different plant. The character of
Pursh’s L. pilosa is not inapplicable to the true species ; but the habitat he
gives, the size of the heads, &c. do not accord. That of De Candolle is
chiefly derived from the detailed description of Elliott, which is entirely
drawn from a specimen of the New Jersey plant, as is proved by his herbarium.
The L. pilosa /?. laevicaulis, DC. is identical with L. spicata y.
racemosa of the same author.
14. L . scariosa (Wilid.): stem stout, more or less pubescent; leaves lanceolate,
pubescent or glabrous, obscurely if at all punctate with impressed
dots; the radical -and lower ones usually large, oval, oblong-lanceolate, or
obovate-oblong, somewhat veiny, tapering into a petiole; heads (few or
numerous) racemose or spicafe, subglobose, 20-40-flowered; scales of the
involucre very numerous, obovate or spatulate, very obtuse, often punctate,
with more or less ciliate searious often denticulate and colored margins ; the
lower ones sometimes a little spreading or squarrose ; the lowest, bracteolate
and often acute; achenia hairy or villous, about the length of the plumose-
barbellate pappus.— Wilid..! spec. 3. p. 1635 ; Ell. ! sk. 2. p. 281 ; Bot.
mag. t. 1709; Bot. reg. t. 590; Brit. jl. gard. t. 87 ; Bigel. Jl. Bost. ed. 2.
p. 293 ; Hook. ! jl. Bor.-A m. 1. p. 306. L. squarrulosa, aspera, & sphe-
roidea, Michx. ! fl. 2. p. 92. L. scariosa & spheroidea, DC. ! prodr. 5. p.
129 i$* 130. L. borealis, “ Paxton, mag. 5. t. 27.” L. heterophylla, Nutt.!
gen. 2. p. 131, not of R. Br.? Serratula scariosa, Linn.! spec. 2. p. 818.
Vernonia scariosa, Poir.
Dry, usually sandy soil, from the Saskatchawan and Upper Canada! to
Florida! Louisiana! & Texas! Aug.—Oct.—Stem 1—5 feet high. Heads
often an inch in diameter. Flowers bright purple, or rarely pure 'white !—
Varies with the stem nearly glabrous, or sometimes almost tomentose at the
summit; the leaves smooth and glabrous, very scabrous (L. aspera, Michx.),
or pubescent; the heads from 3-10 or more, when they are usually somewhat
distant and distinctly pedicelled (the pedicels shorter or sometimes
longer than the heads,) to 30 or 50, when they usually form a dense spike.
But the forms are so numerous and diversified that marked varieties cannot
be characterized. It is mostly a pretty large and stout plant; but is sometimes
slender, 12-18 inches high, with smaller heads, and small linear-lanceolate
cauline leaves; when it is frequently called L. heterophylla.
15. L. heterophylla (R. Brown) : leaves lanceolate, smooth and glabrous ;
the upper ones linear-lanceolate and much smaller; heads spicate, on very
short peduncles; scales of the involucre lanceolate, squarrose, naked.—R. Br.
in Ail. Kew. (ed. 2) 4. p. 503.
“ Native of N. America : cult. 1790, by Mr. William Malcolm. Fl.
July and August,” R. Br. “ In S. Carolina and Georgia, Fraser, Bartram,"
Pursh.—To the original character of this species, we have only to add the
following notes upon the specimen preserved in the Banksian herbarium,
obligingly communicated by Mr. Bennett: “Heads about 10, forming a
compact spike of little more than two inches in length, apparently 15-16-
flowered ; in size and shape they appear to resemble those of L. scariosa;
but the scales are long, pointed, and more decidedly squarrose.” Apparently
the species has not been subsequently met with in this country; but we have
often seen depauperate forms of L. scariosa with this name, yet never with
pointed scales. Pursh’s reference to Wilid. enum. is a mistake, as Will-
denow has no such species.
16. L. paucijlora (Pursh): stem simple, glabrous; leaves linear ; panicle
virgate, leafy; the branches short, bearing few subsessile secund 3-5-flow-
ered heads ; scales of the involucre erect, lanceolate, acute, glabrous. Pursh.
fl. 2. p . 510.
In Georgia, Bartram, (herb. Banks) Flowers small, the size of No. 4.
[which is L. heterophylla.] Pursh.—We have translated the character of
Pursh, merely changing the name ‘ calyx’ to involucre, &c. This still
very obscure species evidently does not belong to the same division with L.
paniculata &c., where Pursh places it; for, according to Mr. Bennett’s remarks
upon the specimen, “ the primary branches of the inflorescence (which