Compositae. Part 2

Description

This section is from the book "Sub-Alpine Plants Or Flowers Of The Swiss Woods And Meadows", by H. Stuart Thompson. Also available from Amazon: Sub-Alpine Plants: Or, Flowers of the Swiss Woods and Meadows.

Compositae. Part 2

Homogyne Sylvestris Cass

Scape 10-12 inches high, with 1-3 capitula, downy, leafy below, scaly above. Root-leaves 2 inches broad, on long stalks, cordate-reniform, incised, 7-9 lobed, outer lobes pointed, inner lobes 3-toothed, with soft spines; stem-leaves small, semi-amplexicaul. Capitula up to 1 inch in length. Involucre purple-red. Branches of style warty. Pappus white.

Meadows and pastures up to 5000 feet; local. May, June.

Distribution

Eastern Alps from Carinthia to Carniola.

Aster L. Aster Alpinus L

Stem erect or ascending, covered with short hairs like the leaves, thickened at the summit, and bearing a single capitulum. Leaves wavy, entire, wedge-shaped or spathulate, 3-nerved, obtuse; upper leaves linear-lanceolate, sessile, acute. Ray-flowers ligulate, violet or mauve; disc-flowers yellow. Capitulum handsome, 1 1/2 - 2 inches across. Bracts of involucre lanceolate, more or less acute, all nearly uniform in height and herbaceous.

Rocks, stony places, and pastures in the Alps and lower Alps; 5000-9000 feet; more frequent on limestone. July, August.

Distribution

Carpathians, Eastern, Central, and Western Alps; Erzgebirge, Jura, Cevennes, Pyrenees.

Bellidiastrum Cass. Bellidiastrum Michelii Cass. (Plate XXI)

Stem erect, leafless, simple, ending in a single capitulum, shaggy or covered with short, soft hairs, like the leaves. Leaves all radical, lanceolate-obovate, narrowed into a foot-stalk, coarsely serrate, obtuse, dull green. Capitulum rather large. Resembles a large daisy, but distinguished by the hairy pappus. The figure is of a robust specimen.

Damp, shady places, and clearings of woods from the sub-alpine region upwards to 6500 feet, especially on limestone. May to autumn.

Distribution

Carpathians, Eastern, Central, and Western Alps, Jura, Black Forest, Var.

Erigeron L

Capitula radiate. Disk yellow. Ray violet or mauve. Involucral bracts in many rows. Receptacle flat, pitted. Ray-flowers in several rows, ligulate. Disk-flowers bi-sexual. Pappus of many rows of hairs, persistent.

Erigeron Acris L

An erect annual or biennial, 6-12 inches high, slightly branched, and covered with short hairs. Leaves linear or lanceolate, entire, the radical ones stalked. Flower-heads rather small, solitary on the upper branches, and forming a loose panicle. Florets numerous, filiform, and short, the outer rows pale purple; the tubular florets very few, pale yellow.

Pastures, stony and waste places from the plains to the lower mountains; common. June to September.