[+] Lower leaves 3-lobed or parted.
2. R. tríloba, L. Hairy, biennial, much branched (2–5° high), the branches slender and spreading; upper leaves ovate-lanceolate, sparingly toothed, the lower 3-lobed, tapering at the base, coarsely-serrate (those from the root pinnately parted or undivided); rays 8, oval or oblong; chaff of the black-purple depressed-globular disk smooth, awned.—Dry soil, Penn. to Mich., Mo., and southward. Aug.—Heads small, but numerous and showy.
3. R. subtomentòsa, Pursh. Stem branching above (3–4° high), downy, as well as the petiolate ovate or ovate-lanceolate serrate leaves beneath; heads short-peduncled; disk globular, dull brown; receptacle sweet-scented; chaff downy at the blunt apex.—Prairies, Wisc., Ill., Mo., and southward.
[+][+] Leaves undivided, rarely laciniately toothed.
4. R. hírta, L. Biennial, very rough and bristly-hairy throughout; stems simple or branched near the base, stout (1–2° high), naked above, bearing single large heads; leaves nearly entire; the upper oblong or lanceolate, sessile; the lower spatulate, triple-nerved, petioled; rays (about 14) more or less exceeding the involucre; chaff of the dull brown disk hairy at the tip, acutish.—Dry soil, western N. Y. to Wisc., and southward. Now common as a weed in eastern meadows, introduced with clover-seed from the West. June–Aug.
5. R. fúlgida, Ait. Hairy, the branches naked at the summit and bearing single heads; leaves spatulate-oblong or lanceolate, partly clasping, triple-nerved, the upper entire, mostly obtuse; rays about 12, equalling or exceeding the ample involucre; chaff of the dark purple disk nearly smooth and blunt.—Dry soil, N. J. and Penn. to Ky., Mo., and southward.—Variable, 1–3° high; the rays orange-yellow.
6. R. spathulàta, Michx. Pubescence short and appressed; slender, 8´–3° high; leaves obovate or spatulate or the upper ovate to lanceolate, sometimes all lanceolate or oblanceolate to linear, denticulate; heads long-peduncled, smaller than in the preceding, the rays fewer and broader.—Pine woods, Va. to Tenn., and southward.
7. R. speciòsa, Wenderoth. Roughish-hairy (1–2° high), branched; the branches upright, elongated and naked above, terminated by single large heads; leaves lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, pointed at both ends, petioled, 3–5-nerved, coarsely and unequally toothed or incised; involucre much shorter than the numerous elongated (1–1½´) rays; chaff of the dark purple disk acutish, smooth.—Dry soil, W. Penn. to Mich., Mo., and southward. July.
50. LÉPACHYS, Raf.
Heads many-flowered, radiate; the rays few, neutral. Involucral scales few and small, spreading. Receptacle oblong or columnar; the chaff truncate, thickened and bearded at the tip, partly embracing the flattened and margined achenes. Pappus none or 2 teeth.—Perennial herbs, with alternate pinnately divided leaves; the grooved stems or branches naked above, bearing single showy heads. Rays yellow or party-colored, drooping; disk grayish. (Name from λεπίς, a scale, and παχύς, thick, from the thickened tips of the chaff.)