xu,c,2. Merrill: Flora of Kwangtung Province, China 111 
ribus ovatis, obtusis, circiter 1 mm longis, interioribus lineari- 
lanceolatis, acutis, 10 mm longis, pappum aequantibus; corolla 
circiter 12 mm longa, lobis linearibus, obtusis, 7 mm longis; 
acheniis circiter 2 mm longis adpresse subferrugineo-pubes- 
centibus. 
Loh Fau Mountain (Lofaushan), Merrill 10237, October 28, 1916, widely 
scattered on open grassy slopes, altitude 500 to 1,100 meters, the flowers 
white, the involucre bracts dull purple. 
Beauverd,’ in his treatment of the genus Ainsliaea, recognizes thirty- 
‘three species, which he distributes into three sections, Scaposae, Aggregatae, 
KS 
rie’ 
and Frondosae. The present species I have placed in the section Scaposae, 
as the leaves are crowded in a dense rosette, which is sometimes at the 
surface of the ground, at other times as much as 8 cm above the base of 
the plant. It appears to be allied to Ainsliaea henryi Diels, but differs in 
numerous characters, such as its long petioled, smaller, differently shaped 
leaves, and its much larger heads. I have not seen the description of 
Ainsliaea walkeri Hook. f., of the section Aggregatae, which was based on 
specimens cultivated at Kew derived from seeds secured by Walker in 
Hongkong, but this form is keyed out by Dunn and Tutcher”™ as having 
linear leaves, a character that does not at all apply to the present species. 
COMPOSITAE 
WEDELIA Jacquin 
Q 
WEDELIA CHINENSIS (Osbeck) comb. nov. 
Solidago chinensis Osbeck Dagbok Ostind. Resa (1757) 241. 
Verbesina calendulacea Linn. Sp. Pl. (1753) 902. 
Wedelia calendulacea Less. Syn. Compos. (1832) 222, non Pers. (1807). 
Honam Island, near Canton, Merrill 10123, October 25, 1914, common 
and widely distributed on paddy banks, dry open slopes, etc. 
In my consideration of the Kwangtung species described by Osbeck * 
I was unable to dispose of Solidago chinensis Osbeck; but now, after con- 
siderable field work in the region that Osbeck explored, I feel confident 
that the plant he named and very briefly described must be the form com- 
monly known as Wedelia calendulacea Less. It is exceedingly common at 
low altitudes in Kwangtung Province, especially near the river. Solidago 
virgaurea Linn. (S. cantoniensis Lour.) is common on Loh Fau Mountain, 
extending from near its base to the summit, and I also discovered it on 
Honam Island, growing on open sterile slopes at an altitude of not more 
than 15 meters, but Osbeck’s description does not at all apply to Solidago 
virgaurea Linn. Wedelia calendulacea Less. is untenable for this species, 
as the name is preoccupied by the Mexican Wedelia calendulacea Pers., 
this apparently being the earliest valid name for the plant commonly 
known as Wedelia hispida HBK. Among all the Compositae collected by me 
in Kwangtung Province, this species is the only one that conforms at all 
with Osbeck’s description. 
* Bull. Soc. Bot. Genéve II 1 (1909) 376-385. 
»F], Kwangtung and Hongkong. Kew Bull. Add. Series 10 (1912) 149. 
- % Am. Journ. Bot. 3 (1916) 5865. 
‘ 
