Willd. spec. 3. p. 2026 (excl. sy n .); Nutt. ! gen. 2. p. 155 ; Darlingt. ! ft.
Cest. p. 467. A. tenuifolius, Sc (3. ericoides, Muhl.! cat. p. 77. A. dumosus,
“ Hoffm. phytogr. bl. 1. t. A ,f . 2” ; Willd. enum. 2. p. 880, Sp herb., fide
Nees ; not of Linn. A. ramosissimus, A. leptophvllus ? & A. subulatus ?
Hort. Par. fide DC.
/?• villosus : stem and branches, and usually the leaves, villous-hirsute.—
A. villosus, Michx.! fl. 2. p. 113. A. pilosus, W illd .! spec. 3. p. 2025 ;
Nees. Ast. p. 109. A. glabellus, L in d l.! in Hook, compan. to bot. mag. 1.
y. platyphyllus: stem and mostly shorter branches densèly villous;
cauline leaves pubescent-hirsute, lanceolate; the lower ones oblong-
spatulate ; those of the branchlets only subulate-linear.
Barren soil, Canada and nearly throughout the United States! /3. North
Carolina! and Ohio! to Missouri! y. N. Carolina, Schweinilz! Mr. Curtis !
Indiana, Dr. Clapp! Aug.—Oct.—Stem 1-3 feet high, often branched from
the base, bushy; the slender spreading branches, and the erect secund
branchlets or peduncles, rigid. Leaves numerous, but not very crowded,
rather rigid ; the lower ones serrulate-ciliate, and often sparingly serrate,
2—4 inches long; the radical ones about the same length, oblanceolate; the
primordial spatulate or obovate and much shorter; those of the upper
part of the stem and branches varying from linear to subulate, an inch or
less in length, acute, and pointed with a. short bristle. Heads usually
scattered along the branches, but sometimes rather crowded, 3-4 lines in
diameter. Involucre rather shorter than the disk ; two or three of the exterior
scales similar to the subulate leaves of the branchlets, and like them
cuspidate with a short bristle, either rather short and appressed, when the
involucre appears slightly turbinate ; or almost as long as the innermost,
when it appears hemispherical; the inner scales glabrous or slightly ciliate,
with rhomboid or triangular-lanceolate greenish tips, which are more or less
spreading; the lower portion white, except the midrib, rigid and appressed,
with membranaceous somewhat dilated margins. Rays 15-25, white or
pale bluish-purple ; the disk frequently turning reddish-purple. Achenia
with a dense minute pubescence, turgid. Pappus of about 24 nearly equal
serrulate-scabrous bristles, in a single series.—There is no difference between
A. ericoides and A. glabellus, Nees, except a slight and variable degree of
hairiness. Our var. /3. is only a still more hairy state of thé same species,
with often wider leaves, which Nees (who examined an imperfect specimen
in the herbarium of Willdenow), suspected to be the same as his A. glabellus.
From this, we find a regular transition to our var. y., of which we
have specimens with such broad cauline leaves (often half an inch wide by
2 to 3 inches in length), that no botanist would venture to unite them with
A. ericoides without a very full suite of intermediate specimens. Perhaps
the scales of the involucre are rather more equal; but we perceive no other
difference.
t t Leaves crowded; the upper not narrowed, but usually dilated or partly clasping
at the base: scales of the involucre spatulate, or narrowed below, mostly ciliate ;
the exterior with obtuse herbaceous tips.
39. A . multifiorus (Ait.): cinereous-pubescent or ha iry ; stem diffusely
racemose-compound; the heads very numerous and crowded, somewhat
unilateral; leaves linear, entire, closely sessile, not tapering at the base,
with serrulate-scabrous or ciliate margins, spreading or at length recurved ;
scales of the campanulate involucre spatulate or linear-spatulate, with spreading
or recurved tips; the exterior obtuse__Ait. Kew. (ed. 1) 3. p. 203 ;
Willd. spec. 3. p. 2027, Sp enum. 2. p. 880 ; Pursh, Jl. 2. p. 546; Ell. ! sk.
2 .p . 349 ; Nees. A s t.p . 114; Lindl. ! in DC.prodr. 5 .p .243, Spin Hook.
Jl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 13. A. ericoides dumosus, Dill. Elth. t. 36, ƒ. 40. A.
ericoides, Lam. diet. 1. p. 304 ; Michx. ! Jl. 2. p. 113. A. ericoides var.
multifiorus, Pers. syn. 2. p. 443. A. ciliatus, Muhl. in Willd. spec. 3. p.
2027. A. dumosus, DC.! prodr. 5. p. 241 (as to spec, in herb., excl. char.
& syn.); Bigel. Jl. Bost. ed. 2. p. 311 ? (Varies, in the pubescence of the
stem, leaves, and involucre, from hirsute-canescent to almost glabrous ; in the
scales of the involucre from spatulate and obtuse to nearly linear and acute,
with the margins either strongly or slightly ciliate; and in the racemes,
which are either dense and elongated, or more compound and thyrsoid ; or,
in sterile soil with few and scattered heads, sometimes even solitary and
terminating the branches.)
/3. stricticaulis: stem strict, slender, narrowly racemose at the summit, or
slightly compound; heads (small) somewhat scattered; scales of the involucre
mostly acute, more squarrose.—A. ericoides var., Lindl.! in herb.
Hook. A. ericoides, Hook.! Jl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 12 (chiefly), excl. syn.
y. commutatus: heads larger, fewer, solitary on the branches, or racemose-
spicate.-—A. ramulosus, /3. incano-pilosus, L in d l.! in Hook. Jl. Bor.-Am.
2. p. 13, &p in DC. 1. c. A. biennis, Torr. ! in ann. lyc. New York, 2. p.
212 ; Lindl. ! in herb. Torr. ; not of Nutt.
Dry fields and sandy or gravelly soil, Canada, Massachusetts! and New
York! to Georgia; and throughout the Western States from Michigan! to
the Upper Missouri! 0. Saskatchawan, and towards the Rocky Mountains,
Drummond ! y. Upper Missouri, Dr. James ! Rocky Mountains, Drummond
! to Fort Franklin on the Mackehzie River, Richardson ! Aug.-Nov.
—Stern 1-2 feet high, much branched, very bushy; the branches mostly
spreading, very leafy; the small heads usually crowded in dense racemes.
Leaves 1-nerved, or somewhat 3-nerved by the confluence of the few veinlets,
obtuse or scarcely acute, but usually tipped with a mucronate bristle; the cauline
ones an inch to an inch and a half in length, 1-2 lines wide, often with tufts
of smaller ones fascicled in their axils; those of the branchlets much smaller,
crowded. Involucre 2 to 3 lines in diameter ; the scales rather rigid, whitish
and appressed, except the short spreading or recurved green tips, usually
mucronulate like the leaves; the exterior shorter, more spatulate, and obtuse
; the innermost linear, acute. Rays 10-15, broadly linear, white, or
slightly tinged with purple ; the disk-flowers about the same number, turning
slightly purple. Achenia turgid, covered with a minute appressed pubescence—
The var. /?. is a more attenuated plant, probably growing in
shady places, with the leaves also more slender; certainly not a variety of
A. ericoides. We have not seen the specimens from ‘ Red River, Douglas,’
cited under that species in Hook. Jl. Bor.-Am., and know not whether they
should be referred here.—The var. y. does not differ from the ordinary
A. multifiorus, except in the size and number of the heads, which are subject
to considerable variation. It was a specimen of this plant (erroneously
named A. biennis in herb. Torr.) that Dr. Lindley had in view, when he
remarked the close affinity of his A. ramulosus /3. with A. biennis Nutt.
(A. canescens, Pursh). We have also a specimen of A. multifiorus a., with
more scattered heads, collected in Michigan, which Dr. Lindley has labelled
‘A. canescens, Pursh': hence, probably, by some misapprehension, De
Candolle, on bis authority, has given Massachusetts as a habitat of that species
; which, however, is not found east of the Mississippi.
40. A.falcatus (Lindl.) : somewhat cinereous-pubescent with appressed
hairs; stem strict, slender, racemose or somewhat compound at the summit;
the heads solitary or several on the erect contracted branches ; leaves linear,
entire, minutely appressed-pubescent; the cauline partly clasping by a
broad or somewhat dilated base, often slightly falcate, the margins scabrous;
scales of the hemispherical involucre linear, somewhat narrowed below, all
nearly equal in length, with spreading tips, mucronate-acute.—L in d l.! in