Tas. 7772. 
WYETHIA mottts, 
Native of Californta. 
Nat. Ord. Comrosit.x.—Tribe HettantHOIDEe’. 
Genus Wretuia, Nutt.; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii, p. 374). 
Wrest (Alarconia) mollis; herba 2-3-pedalis, erecta, robusta, floccose- 
tomentosa, demum glabrescens, radice crasso, caule simplici v. parce 
ramoso, foliis inferioribus pedalibus ovatis oblongis v. lineari-oblongis 
acutis v. apice rotundatis basi rotundatis cuneatis vel in petiolum crassum 
angustatis coriaceis nervis numerosis patalis nervulis reticulatis superiori- 
bus ovato-lanceolatis, petiolo 2-4 poll. longo, capitulis pancis amplis 
inferioribus longe superioribus breviter pedicellatis, pedicellis crassis, 
involucri cupularis pollicaris bracteis 10-12 oblongo-'anceolatis subacutis 
herbaceis, receptaouli bracteolis lineari-oblongis, floribus aurantiacis radii 
10-15 ligula if poll. longa j poll. lata patenti-recurva apice bidenticulata, 
achesniis linearl-oblongis compressis marginibus ciliolatis, pappi setis 
brevibus subulatis rigidis scabridis lateralibus sepius longioribus. 
W. mollis, A. Gray én Proc, Amer. Acad. vol. vi. (1865) p. 544; Synopt. Fl. 
NV. Am. Gamopet. p. 208; et in Bot. Calif. vol. i. p. 349. 
Wyethia, a genus confined to Western North America, 
_ Consists of about a dozen species, It is nearly allied to 
Helianthus, differing in having fertile ray-flowers and in 
the pappus. A. Gray describes the species as having a 
balsamic odour, adding that the thick roots and the seeds 
were used as food by the Indians. The name is a tribute by 
Mr. Nuttall to the memory of Nathaniel J. Wyeth, who 
collected the species upon which the genus was.founded, 
and who subsequently accompanied its founder in one of 
the first journeys made across the whole continent of 
North America, 
The sectional name of Alargonia is adopted from De 
Candolle (Prodr., vol. v. p. 537), who gave it as a 
generic one to a species, W. heleniotdes, previously described 
by Nuttall. It is dedicated to the memory of Fernando 
de Alargon, a noble Spanish navigator, who, in 1540, 
first visited and carefully surveyed the coast of California, 
W. mollis is a native of the Sierra Nevada, especially on 
the eastern side, from Sierra Valley to Virginia city in 
Nevada, thence westward to the Yosemite and other valleys 
of the Sierra in California. 
May Ist, 1901, 
