. 220 LXXVIII. composiT#. (J. D. Hooker.) 
lobose, rough. Ovary 1-celled; style slender, 2-fid ; arms (sometimes connate) 
inear, j-terete, naked or externally pubescent or tipped by pubescent cones, 
margins stigmatic; ovule solitary, basal, erect, ahatropous, nucleus with one 
coat. Fruit (an achene) dry, indehiscent. Seed erect, testa membranous, albu- 
men 0; embryo straight, cotyledons plano-convex, radicle short.—A rrINTTIES. 
Close with Dipsacee, Valerianee, and Lobeliacee, ` DrsrRIB. Co-extensive with 
dicotyledonous vegetation; genera about 1000; species about 8000, 
The Indian Composite have been more sedulously studied than any other equally 
large and intricate Indian family of plants. The first important contribution to our 
knowledge of them under well characterised genera is contained in Dons “ Pro- 
dromus Flore Nepalensis,” wherein upwards of 60 species are described. Next came 
“ Wight's Contributions to the Botany of India,” where 126 species are described by 
De Candolle. This was followed by the great aistribution of Wallich’s Herbarium, 
in which 400 species are enumerated, many named for the first time, after having been 
referred in great part to their proper genera by Wallich himself, Brown, Bentham, and 
others. These numbers, however, do not represent more than about 300 distinct species, 
The volumes containing the Composite of De Candolle’s Prodromus include most of 
the species distributed by Wallich, together with Wight’s Peninsular ones, which were 
studied and named chiefly by Arnott, and distributed in like manner to Wallich's. 
The labours of these individuals and authors laid the foundation of all future know- 
ledge of the Order in India. The greatest subsequent accession of species was the 
result of Dr. Thomson's journeys in the N. W. Himalaya and Tibet, and his and my 
own in East Nipal and Sikkim, which were hurriedly distributed after much labour in 
referring the Composite to their genera, and in many cases to their species, by myself’; 
whilst at the same time I arranged the whole of the Indian material in the Hookerian 
and other herbaria of Indian plants then at Kew, which were in great confusion. 
After Dr. Thomson's return to India as Superintendent of the Calcutta Botanic Gar. 
dens, he devoted several years to a critical study of the Indian species, and on his 
retirement left in the Caleutta Gardens a ms. catalogue of all that were known 
to him. In 1873 appeared the first part of the second volume of Mr. Bentham’s and 
my “ Genera Plantarum,” containing the Composite elaborated by Mr. Bentham. In 
this work many of the Indian genera were for the first time studied in relation to their 
allies in other countries, and various important changes were made as to their limita- 
tion and disposition in the Order, and suggestions as to the classification of their 
included species. This was followed in 1876 by the publication by my coadjutor, Mr. 
C. B. Clarke, of his “ Composite Indice,” founded on the “Genera Plantarum” in 
respect of the genera, and on the rich Calcutta collections and Thomson’s mss. in re- 
spect of the species, This valuable and very laborious work has been since annotated 
for me by its author with the Wallichian and Kew herbaria, and with various works 
to which he had not access in Caleutta. In the following revision of the genera and 
species I have adhered as closely as I could to the lines of Mr. Clarke's work, whilst 
describing the genera and discussing the species in accordance with my own views, 
Trier I. W'ernonies. Heads with the flowers all similar and tubular. 
Anthers cleft at the base. Style-arms subulate, hairy.— Leaves usually alternate. 
Flowers never yellow. 
Subtribe 1. EuvERNONIEX. Heads distinct, many-flowered. 
Achenes 4-5-angled. Pappus 0 às 46 Dg y ee ere Ve Ie 
Achenes 8-10-ribbed. Pappus short, fugacious . . . . . 2. C&NTRATHERUM. 
Achenes terete, shining. Pappus scant e. . . 8, LAMPRACHIENIUM. 
Acum i6sbbed. Pappas d Auge, ... (4 Vu A. Abs 
Achenes 10-ribbed. Pappus long, copious. . . . . . . 5. VERNONIA. 
Subtribe 2. LYCHNOPHORE®. Heads 1 or few-flowered, crowded into dense 
masses like single heads, 
Corolla usually cleft laterally. Pappus chaffy . . . . . 6. ELEPHANTOPUS. 
Trump Il. Eupatoriese. Heads with the flowers all similar and tubular, 
