§ 2. Scales of the involucre imbricated in several series, coriaceous, with herbaceous
spreading or squarrose tips: receptacle alveolate: rays numerous
(12—30) .• appendages of the style lanceolate: bristles of the pappus rigid,
unequal, a portion of the inner more or less thickened towards the summit:
achenia narrow, angled or striate, slightly or scarcely compressed: cauline
leaves sessile, r ig id ; the radical never cordate: heads large and showy.
C a m ja s t r t jm .
This section closely approaches Biotia through Aster Radula, and Seri cocarpus
by A. gracilis: it appears to form a very natural group. The inner bristles of the
pappus become more rigid and more evidently thickened above as they grow old.
3. A . Radida (Ait.): stem strict, glabrous, angled with decurrent lines,
somewhat corymbose at the summit; the branches few, nearly simple and
naked, slightly pubescent; leaves lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate,
mostly narrowed towards the base, closely sessile, scabrous both sides and
somewhat rugose, sharply serrate, at least in the middle; involucre cam-
panulate-hemispherical, shorter than the disk; the scales oblong, rather obtuse,
pubescent-ciliate, appressed, with slightly spreading herbaceous tips;
achenia glabrous, linear-oblong, many striate.—Ait. Kew. (ed. 1) 3. p. 210 ;
Pursh, fl. 2. p. 556; Nees, Ast. p. 43 ; Hook.! fl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 7 ; DC. !
prodr. 5. p . 230.
3. leaves ovate-lanceolate, or the lower ones somewhat obovate-oblong,
acute or slightly acuminate.—A. nudiflorus, Nutt. gen. 2. p. 157 ; Darlingl.!
fl. Cest. p. 462; DC. 1. c.
Moist copses and low grounds, Nova Scotia (Aiton) and Newfoundland !
Lubeck, Maine, Mr. Oakes! Near Boston and Salem, Massachusetts,
Nuttall! Dr. Greene! Dr. Pickering! New London, Connecticut, Mr.
Roland! Swamps of New Jersey, Dr. Stuve, ex Nutt. “ On the high
mountains of New York and Pennsylvania,” Pursh. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,
Schweinitz ! and near Westchester, Mr, D. Townsend! (the southern
forms more luxuriant and corresponding with A. nudiflorus, Nutt.) Ang.-
Sept.—Plant 1-3 feet high. Leaves numerous, 2-3 inches long, nearly
equal in size to the summit of the stem, varying from half an inch to more
than an inch in width, pinnately veined, rough, hairy on the veins beneath,
often entire towards the base; the teeth sharp and salient, or sometimes
rather obtuse, mucronate. Heads few, large (smaller than in A. spectabilis),
1—3 upon each branch of the simple corymb; the oval-oblong or linear oblong
(often acutish) scales of the involucre with bright green, sometimes
slightly spatulate tips, nearly glabrous except the margins. Rays numerous,
elongated, pale violet; the disk yellow, turning brownish. Achenia narrowly
oblong or fusiform, turgid, slightly compressed when mature. Pappus
rather rigid; the longer bristles somewhat thickened near the apex.—The
Pennsylvanian is larger than the Newfoundland plant, but otherwise they
perfectly accord. We have gathered this species in the Berlin Botanic
garden, under the name of Biotia commixta, var. stricta.
4. A- bijlorus (Michx.): low; stems very simple, slender, bearing two
(rarely a single) pedunculate heads at the summit; leaves broadly lanceolate,
very acute, remotely [and sharply] serrate; scales of the appressed-imbricate
involucre lanceolate [heads large]. Michx. ! fl. 2. p. 115 ; Nees, Ast.
p. 39. A. strictus, Pursh, fl. 2. p. 556, not of Poi.r.
Around lakes and rivers which flow into Hudson’s Bay, Michaux. La-
ljrador, and on high mountains of Pennsylvania, Pursh. Labrador, Herb.
Schweinitz !—The following particulars are added by Pursh, whose Labrador
plant (Herb. Banks.) is probably the same as Michaux’s A. biflorus:
Plant from 4 inches to a span high: leaves scabrous : flowers middle-sized;
the rays pale violet, disk brownish-yellow : scales of the involucre oblong,
acute, nearly equalling the disk.—According to Nees. who examined a specimen
in the Willdenovian herbarium, the stem is glabrous, and the closely
imbricated scales of the involucre ovate-oblong, rather acute.—The specimen
in the Sehweinitzian herbarium resembles a very dwarf state of A. Radula,
with which it accords in its pappus and narrow glabrous achenia; but the
more membranaceous scales of the involucre are much fewer in number,
acute, and nearly equal in length.
5. A. montaniis (Richards.): rhizoma creeping; stems pubescent or villous
below, tomentose and mostly corvmbose at the summit, leafy ; leaves
oblong, serrate, veiny, somewhat hairy beneath, sessile; the lowermost, somewhat
spatulate, the upper lanceolate; scales of the campanulate-hemi-
spherical involucre canescently tomentose, lanceolate, acute, unequal, closely
imbricated in 3 or more series, with herbaceous spreading summits; rays
narrow, numerous; achenia linear, elongated, many-ribbed, sparsely hirsute.—
Richards.! appx. Frankl. journ. ed. 2. p. 32, not of Null. A.
Richardsonii, Spreng. syst. 3. p. 528; Nees, Ast. p. 30; Hook.! fl. Bor.-
Am. 2. p. 7 ; DC. prodr. 5. p. 229. A. Sibiricus, Turcz.! in herb. Hook.
ft. giganteus: stem large and stout, more tomentose ; leaves ample, more
deeply and sharply serrate, pubescent-tomentose beneath.—A. Richardsonii
ft. giganteus, Hook.! 1. c.
y. arcticus: stems smaller, often simple and bearing a solitary head;
scales of the more simple involucre fewer ; the exterior more foliaceous and
as long as the disk.—A. salsuginosus ? Less.! in Linneea, 6. p. 124. A.
Espenbergensis, Nees! Ast. p. 36; DC .! 1. c. A. Sibiricus, Fischer! in
herb. Hook.
Barren country from lat. 64° to the Arctic Sea, Richardson! Rocky
Mountains, Drummond! Also in Siberia (Herb. Pall, fide Richards. Of
herb. Hook. ! ex Turcz.) ft. Fort Franklin on the Mackenzie River,
Richardson! y. Kotzebue’s Sound, &c. Chamisso! Capt. Beechey!—Stem
varying from 5 inches to a foot or more (in /3. 2 feet) in height, often branched
at the base, usually simply corymbose at the summit; the tomentose erect
peduncles thickened under the heads. Leaves 1 to 3 inches long, feather-
veined, either obscurely or conspicuously serrate with pointed teeth. Heads
as large as in A. alpinus: the involucre, in the fullv developed states, broadly
campanulate rather than hemispherical, at first about the length of the disk,
but mostly shorter than the pappus; the exterior scales successively shorter
and more herbaceous; the inner with purple summits; in /?. all rather looser
and less unequal; in y. with the exterior more foliaceous and lax or bracteo-
late, equalling or exceeding the innermost, so as to resemble an Alpigenous
Aster. Receptacle alveolate. Rays apparently purple, much longer than
the disk ; the corolla of the disk turning purple. Appendages of the style
lanceolate-oblong, rather obtuse. Pappus copious, reddish-brown when old,
unequal, some of the longest series slight ly thickened at the summit. Achenia
attenuated, strongly striate, sparsely hairy when mature.—A well-marked
species, with the involucre of the section Amelli, and the achenia and pappus
of Biotia, or of most species of Calliastrum ; but in the extremely reduced
arctic forms, the involucre simulates an Alpigenous Aster, which the
larger stales are very unlike, although an approach to this form is occasionally
presented. The var. ffl. is a larger, coarser, and much more tomentose state,
with the leaves often an inch and a half wide, resembling A. conspicuus,
except as to pubescence.
6. A. conspicuus (Lindl.): stem stout, strict, corymbose at the summit; the
branches erect, minutely pubescent, mostly leafless and bearing single heads;
leaves oblong or broadly lanceolate, acute, serrate with coarse spreading
teeth, slightly pubescent and scabrous, sessile; the lower narrowed at tHe