- Tas. 6549. 
ASTER GYMNOOEPHALUS. 
Native of Mexico. 
Nat. Ord. Composttz.—Tribe AsTEROIDER. 
Genus Aster, Linn, ; (Benth, et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. ii. p. 271.) 
_ Aster (Macheranthera) gymnocephalus ; erecta e radice bienni vel annua, parce 
ramosa, pube hispidula et per caulem hirsuta. sursum glandulosa, foliis parvulis 
oblongo-lanceolatis vel radicalibus spathulatis serratis, dentibus setiferis, venis 
obsoletis, capitulis ramos apice nudiusculos terminantibus mediocribus, involucro 
hzmispherico e bracteis pluriserialibus lineari-subulatis maxima parte herbaceis 
hirtelio-glandulosis squarroso-recurvis, ligulis perplurimis semipollicaribus lato- 
linearibus late roseo-purpureis, acheniis brevibus turbinatis villosissimis, pappo 
e setis rigidulis valde inequalibus, radii sat breviori parciori, receptaculo 
insigniter fimbrillato. 
A. gymnocephalus, 4. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. vol. xv. p. 32. 
Aplopappus gymnocephalus, DC. Prodr, vol. v. p. 346. — 
MacuHRantHera setigera, Nees in Linnea, vol. xix. p. 722. 
Mistaking the proper colour of the ray-flowers of this 
plant, which indeed is not obvious in most of the dried 
Specimens, and misled by a near resemblance to Aplopappus — 
spinulosus, De Candolle not unnaturally referred it to the 
genus Aplopappus. Having named some very imperfectly- 
developed specimens of Berlandier, belonging to that genus, 
Aplopappus phyllocephalus, he gave to this the counterpart 
name of gymnocephalus, which name it now takes in Asfer, 
unmeaning though it be. We have ascertained that it is 
also the Macheranthera setigera of Nees, much later pub- 
lished and with hardly any character. The true colour of 
the ray was noted long ago in Plantae Wrightianx, Part L, 
p- 97, as also the affinity to Macheranthera. This is con- 
firmed by the annual or biennial duration of the root, one 
of the characteristics of this section of Aster. The species 
to which it is most allied are A. canescens, and A. Towns- 
MARCH Ist, 1851. 
