360 
3. LACHNOCAULON, Kunth, Enum. iii. 497 (1841). 
Very similar to Eriocaulon in general appearance and habit, 
but distinguished by having the outer perianth only, the flowers 
always three-parted, three stamens which coalesce in a tube be- 
neath, and one-celled anthers. The staminal tube appears to 
take the place of the sterile outer perianth segments of Eriocau- 
fon and Pepalanthus, and the place of the inner segment of the 
fertile flower is occupied in this genus by a loose mass of hairs, or 
sometimes by three rows of hairs. Style club-shaped, dividing 
into three bifid stigmas which alternate with three appendices. 
The genus is confined to the Southern United States, in 
which four species occur. 
“1. LACHNOCAULON ANCEPS (Walt). 
Eriocaulon anceps, Walt. Fl. Car. 83 (1788). 
E. villosum, Mx. FI. ii. 166, (1803) Pursh, Fl. i. 92, (1814). 
L. Michauxii, Kunth, Enum. iii. 497, (1841) Chap. Fl. 504, 
(1860). : ae 
Leaves 1 to 3 inches long, tapering to an obtuse callous point, 
smooth or sparingly hairy, seven to twelve-nerved or often appar- 
ently nerveless. Scapes slender, 2 to 20 inches high, two to four- 
ribbed, the ribs themselves often with intermediate stria, clothed 
with long, soft, appessed, upwardly-pointed hairs. Sheaths as 
long as or shorter than the leaves, hairy like the scape, and 
pointed like the leaves. Heads globose, 1 to 3 inches in diame- 
ter. Involucral scales ovate or oblong, obtuse or pointed, 
smooth or hairy, shorter than the flowers, usually fuliginous. 
Flowers about 1 line high, bracts fuliginous, spatulate, often 
keeled, surrounded at base by the yellowish, silky hairs of the 
villose receptacle and white bearded at the apex. Perianth seg- 
ments in the sterile flower on a short stipe which is hairy at the 
base, spatulate, fuliginous and fimbriate at the apex. Those of 
the fertile flower white, smooth, oblong, obtuse; ovary sessile, 
densely villous around the base; style three-divided ; stigmas 
bifid, seeds strongly costate. Roots finely fibrous. The white 
segments of the fertile perianth mingled with the fuliginous 
woolly segments of the sterile flowers impart a mixed gray and 
_ dark appearance to the heads. 
- Low pine barrens, So. Va. to Florida,’ March-June. — 
