2. A. corymbòsus, Ait. Stem slender, somewhat zigzag; leaves thin, smoothish, coarsely and unequally serrate with sharp spreading teeth, taper-pointed, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, all but the uppermost heart-shaped at the base and on slender naked petioles; rays 6–9.—Woodlands; common; especially northward. July, Aug.—Plant 1–2° high, with smaller heads, looser corymbs, rounder and less rigid exterior involucral scales, and thinner leaves than the next; not rough, but sometimes pubescent.
3. A. macrophýllus, L. Stem stout and rigid (2–3° high); leaves thickish, rough, closely serrate, abruptly pointed; the lower heart-shaped (4–10´ long, 3–6´ wide), long-petioled; the upper ovate or oblong, sessile or on margined petioles; heads in ample rigid corymbs; rays 10–15 (white or bluish).—Moist woods; common northward, and southward along the mountains. Aug., Sept.—Involucre ½´ broad; the outer scales rigid, oblong or ovate-oblong, the innermost much larger and thinner.
§ 3. ASTER proper. Scales imbricated in various degrees, with herbaceous or leaf-like summits, or the outer entirely foliaceous; rays numerous; pappus simple, soft and nearly uniform (coarser and more rigid in the first group); achenes flattened. (All flowering late in summer or in autumn.)
[*] 1. Scales well imbricated, coriaceous, with short herbaceous mostly obtuse spreading tips; pappus of rigid bristles; stem-leaves all sessile, none heart-shaped or clasping; heads few, or when several corymbose, large and showy.
[+] Lowest leaves ovate or ovate-oblong, some rounded or subcordate at base.
4. A. Hervèyi, Gray. Slightly scabrous, 1–2° high, the summit and peduncles glandular-puberulent; leaves roughish, obscurely serrate, the lower ovate on nearly naked petioles, the upper lanceolate; heads loosely corymbose, ½´ high; involucre nearly hemispherical, the scales obscurely glandular, all erect, with very short or indistinct green tips; rays violet, ½´ long.—Borders of oak woods, in rather moist soil, E. Mass, and R. I.; Mt. Desert. An ambiguous species, approaching the last.
[+][+] Radical leaves all tapering into margined petioles; involucres squarrose (hardly so in n. 8); rootstocks slender.
5. A. spectábilis, Ait. Stems 1–2° high, roughish and glandular-puberulent above; leaves oblong-lanceolate, or the lower spatulate-oblong, obscurely serrate or the upper entire; heads few, hemispherical, ½´ high; scales glandular-puberulent and viscid; mostly with the upper half herbaceous and spreading; rays about 20, bright violet, nearly 1´ long.—sandy soil, Mass. to Del., near the coast, and perhaps southward. Sept.–Nov. One of the handsomest species of the genus.
6. A. surculòsus, Michx. Stems 1° high or less, from long filiform rootstocks; leaves entire or nearly so, rigid, lanceolate or the upper linear; heads few or solitary, as in the last but generally smaller, the scales hardly glandular.—Moist ground, coast of N. J., and southward.
7. A. grácilis, Nutt. Rootstocks occasionally tuberous-thickened; stems slender, 1° high; leaves oblong-lanceolate, entire or nearly so, small (1–2´ long); heads few or several; involucre top-shaped, 3–4´´ long, glabrous, not glandular nor viscid, the coriaceous whitish scales with very short deltoid or ovate tips; rays 9–12, 3–6´´ long.—Pine barrens, N. J. to N. C., E. Ky. and Tenn.