Plants 8-20(-30+) dm. Stems puberulent, glabrescent. Leaves mostly cauline; blades ± lanceolate, 12-25+ cm × 20-60+ mm, l/w = (3.5-)4-7+, abaxially scabrellous (hairs awl-shaped), sometimes glabrescent, not or sparsely resin-gland-dotted, adaxially strigillose, glabrescent, not resin-gland-dotted. Heads in corymbiform-scorpioid arrays. Peduncles 1-12(-20+) mm. Involucres broadly campanulate to hemispheric, 4-5+ × 4-5 mm. Phyllaries 30-40+ in 4-5 series, glabrate, margins ciliolate, the outer lance-ovate, 1-2 mm, inner oblong, 3.5-5 mm, tips acute or rounded-apiculate. Florets (9-)18-24(-30). Cypselae 2.5-3.5 mm; pappi usually purplish, sometimes stramineous, outer scales 20-25, 0.5-1 mm, contrasting with 35-40+, 4.5-6+ mm inner bristles. 2n = 34. Flowering Jun-Sep. Flood plains; 10-300 m; Ont.; Ala., Ark., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Kans., Ky., La., Md., Mich., Miss., Mo., Nebr., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va., W.Va.

Stems 1-3 m, glabrous or nearly so; lvs thin, lanceolate to lance-oblong or lance-ovate, 10-30 נ3-7 cm, long-acuminate, gradually narrowed to the base, finely serrate to subentire, glabrous or nearly so above, thinly pubescent with minute (rarely 0.3 mm) straight hairs beneath; infl loose, flattened to concave or irregular, 2-5 dm wide; fls 13-30; invol 4-7 mm, its principal bracts appressed, regularly imbricate, obtuse, rounded, or rarely apiculate, usually purple, arachnoid-ciliate or entire, commonly glabrous and not resinous on the back; pappus purple to brown or tan; 2n=34. Moist or wet woods, and becoming weedy in pastures; w. N.Y. to s. Mich. and e. Nebr., s. to S.C., Fla., and Tex. Ours is the widespread var. gigantea. (V. altissima)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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