We are greatly indebted to several botanists and public institutions of this country
for the use of their entire collections of A merican A sters; and we would especially
render our acknowledgments to birWm. Hooker, who, by most liberally entrusting
to our care his vast materials in this and other allied genera, has atforded
the most important assistance. Notwithstanding the very favourable opportunities
we have enjoyed, our arrangement of this, probably the most difficult genus in
North American botany, although the result of much labor, is by no means so satisfactory
as could be desired. Although much remains to be done before our species
can be considered as well settled, still we trust that our attempt will be found to have
contributed to this result, and that most of our indigenous A sters may be satisfactorily
identified by the student. The chief remaining difficulties relate to the species of the
sections Dumosi and Salicifolvi of A ster proper, which may probably be hereafter
much better defined, and also somewhat increased in number, in some instances
perhaps by the separation of species which we have ventured to unite, as well as by
the identification of various cultivated plants with their native originals. It is well
known that many of the enumerated species, both of earlier and later authors,
have been described from plants long cultivated in European gardens, where they
have doubtless undergone great alterations in appearance; to say nothing of the
strong probability of occasional hybridization. A large, and indeed increasing
number of these are only known as garden plants; and it is probable that many
will never be identified with their original types; even supposing them to have
been derived in all cases from this country, which is by no means certain. As
we have chiefly directed our attention to the indigenous plants, and have drawn our
descriptions from these alone, we have thought it advisable to bring together, at the
close of our account of the proper A sters known to us, those species of garden origin
which we have not identified with native specimens. A fuller comparison than
•we have been able to institute will doubtless considerably reduce their number.
Those botanists who are most familiar with our A sters in their nati ve situations,
and with the changes produced by difference of soil, exposure, season, &c. will not
be greatly surprised at numerous reductions of species which others may think unwarranted.
"We have only to say, that we have seldom ventured upon such reductions,
except on the authority of a full suite of specimens which appeared to present
absolute transitions. An obvious difference between two or three specimens is
often entirely inappreciable in a fuller series, and thus loses its value as a means of
distinction: but the claims of a genuine species are generally confirmed by a large
number of specimens. It must, however, be admitted that, in this as in all large
and natural genera, several species which we cannot but consider as distinct (such
for instance as A. cordifolius and A. sagittifolius) do frequently present very puzzling
intermediate forms; and that an apparent transition is not always real. Y et
it is better, perhaps, to hazard the occasional reduction of even true species to
varieties, than to multiply species which we are confessedly unable to define. We
may remark, in conclusion, that we are the more inclined to act upon our own convictions,
on account of the very frequent and wide disagreement even of the highest
authorities upon this genus.
§ 1. Involucre obovate-campanulale; the scales regularly imbricated in several
series, oppressed, nearly destitute of herbaceous tips; the exterior successively
shorter: receptacle alveolate: rays 6-15: appendages of the style subulate-
lanceolate, recurved or diverging, minutely hispid: bristles of the pappus
unequal, rather rig id ; the inner series mostly slightly thickened towards the
apex: achenia linear, slender, scarcely compressed, somewhat 3-angled or
striate: stem corymbose at the summit: leaves (ample) mostly petioled,
coarsely serrate; the radical and lower cauline on long petioles, cordate.—
JBio t ia , DC.
1 . A . corymbosus (Ait.): stent slender, often flexuous, terete; leaves
membranaceous, coarsely or incisely and unequally serrate with sharp
spreading teeth, conspicuously acuminate, all but the uppermost cordate and
on slender naked petioles, ovate or ovate-lanceolate; heads loosely corymbose;
involucre shorter than the disk; the exterior scales roundish-ovate;
rays (white) 6—9.——Ait. Kew. (ed. 1) 3. p. 207; Willd. spec. 3. p. 2036;
Pursh! fl. 1. p. 552; Ell. sk. 2. p. 365. A. divaricatus, Linn. spec. 2. p.
873? (fide herb.!) excl. syn. Gronov. Sç Pluk. Eurybia corymbosa, Cass,
in diet. sci. nat. 27. p. 487; Nees, Ast. p. 143; Lindl. ! bot. re<. t. 1532;
Hook. ! fl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 14 ; Darlingt.! Jl. Cest. p. 469. Biotia corymbosa,
DC.! prodr. 5 .p. 265.
Dry woodlands, Canada and Northern States! to the middle country or
mountains of the Southern States! July-Aug.—Stem 1-2 feet high, glabrous,
or pubescent towards the summit, where it branches into a loose (often
somewhat leafy) corymb. Leaves very thin and membranaceous, 2-4 or 5
inches long, strongly serrate with sharp and spreading rather distant and
irregular teeth, which are tipped with conspicuous mucronate-aeuminate
points, glabrous or sparsely hairy above, and often hairy on the midrib and
veins beneath, as also the slender petioles, varying from broadly ovate to
ovate-lanceolate, but all except the uppermost cordate; the upper rarely with
margined petioles; the uppermost sessile and sparingly serrate. Heads
smaller than in the following species, the outer scales of the involucre
(smooth, except the ciliate-pubescent margin) rounder and less rigid. Pappus
tawny. Achenia nearly glabrous when mature.—Lindley cites the Aster
cordifolius of Michaux as a synonym of this species, on the authority of a
specimen communicated by A. Richard : but, if we mistake not, the chief
specimens of his proper herbarium accord with the Linnæan A. cordifolius.
2. A . macrophyllus (Linn.) : stem stout, somewhat striate-angled, roughish-
pubescent above, the corymbose branches also rigid; leaves thickish, scabrous,
closely serrate, somewhat acuminate ; the radical and lower ones
(large) cordate, on slender petioles; the upper sessile or on margined petioles;
heads in ample corymbs; involucre nearly the length of the disk; the
exterior scales rigid, oblong or ovate-oblong; rays (white or purplish) 12-15.—
Linn.! spec. (ed. 2) 2. p. 1232; Ait. Kew. (ed. 1) 3. p. 207; Michx. ! fl. 1.
p. 114; Willd. spec. 3. p. 2037; Pursh! fl. 2. p . 552. Eurybia macro-
phylla, Cass, in diet. sci. nat. 27. p. 487 ; Nees, Ast. p. 140 (excl. syn. Ast.
divaric. See.); Darlingt.! fl. Cest. p. 465; Hook.! fl. Bor.-Am. 2. p . 14.
Biotia macrophylla, DC.! prodr. 5 .p. 265.
/3. stem and leaves nearly smooth and glabrous; heads usually smaller.
—Aster Schreberi, i\ees, synops. p. 16; Spreng. syst. 3. p. 535. Eurybia
Schreberi, Nées! A st.p . 138. Biotia Schreberi, DC.! 1. c. (Varies, with
the heads somewhat glomerate on short pedicels, and the rays shorter; apparently
an accidental state. Eurybia glomerata, Bernh. in Nees, Ast. 1. c.
Biotia glomerata, DC. ! 1. c.)
y. extërior scales of the involucre broadly ovate or roundish-oval ; otherwise
as in a.
Woodlands, Canada! (from the Saskatchawan!) and Northern States!
Aug.-Sept.—Stem 14—3 feet high, usually broadly corymbose; the upper
portion, as well as the pedicels and involucre, clothed with a close puberu-
lence which appears glandular or viscid under a lens, often with roughish
hairs intermixed ; below, as also the petioles, either smooth or with a rough
pubescence. Radical leaves 4-10 inches long and 3-6 in width, varying
from roundish-cordate to cordate-oblong, serrate with broad and short mucro-
nate teeth, often sparsely hirsute, and usually hairy on the midrib and strong
veins beneath; the petioles 4-12 inches long: cauline leaves smaller, ovate
or oblong; the upper closely sessile; the lower abruptly narrowed into a
margined or winged petiole. Heads mostly large : the involucre about half
an inch in diameter; the exterior rigid scales pubescent-ciliate, acutish or
obtuse; the innermost much larger and membranaceous. Pappus tawny, or
reddish. Achenia linear, obscurely striate, almost glabrous when mature.—
There are certainly but two species of Biotia indigenous to the United States.
B. (Eurybia, Nees) commixta, DC. is of doubtful origin; but perhaps it is
only a form of this species.
VOL. II.-14