468 



COMPOSITAE. 



VOL. III. 



i. Verbesina alba L. Yerbadetajo. Fig. 4439. 



Verbesina alba L. Sp. PI. 902. 1753. 



Eclipta erecta L. Mant. 2 : 286. 1771. 



Eclipta procumbent Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 129. 1803. 



Eclipta alba Hassk. PI. Jav. Rar. 528. 1848. 



Annual, rough with appressed pubescence, erect or 

 diffuse, 6'-3 high. Leaves lanceolate, oblong-lanceo- 

 late or linear-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, denticulate 

 or entire, narrowed to a sessile base, or the lower peti- 

 oled, i '-5' long, 2"-io" wide; heads commonly numer- 

 ous, 3"-6" broad, nearly sessile, or slender-peduncled ; 

 rays short, nearly white; anthers brown; achenes 

 4-toothed, or at length truncate. 



Along streams, and in waste places, Massachusetts to Illi- 

 nois, Nebraska, Florida, Texas and Mexico. Naturalized 

 from the south in its northeastern range and widely dis- 

 tributed in warm regipns as a weed. July-Oct. 



59. TETRAGONOTHECA (Dill.) L. Sp. PL 903. 1753. 



Erect perennial mostly branched herbs, with opposite, sessile or connate-perfoliate, broad 

 dentate leaves, and large peduncled heads of tubular and radiate yellow flowers. Involucrte 

 depressed-hemispheric, its principal bracts 4, large and foliaceous, inserted in i series; inner 

 bracts 6-15, small, subtending the pistillate ray-flowers. Receptacle conic, chaffy, the chaff 

 concave, enwrapping the perfect fertile disk-flowers, the corollas of which are slender and 

 S-toothed. Anthers entire or minutely 2-toothed at the base. Style-branches of the disk- 

 flowers hispid, tipped with elongated appendages. Achenes thick, 4-sided, truncate at the 

 summit. Pappus none, or of several short scales. [Greek, 4-angled-case, referring to the 

 involucre.] 



Four known species, natives of the southern United States and noi'thern Mexico, the follow- 

 ing typical. 



i. Tetragonotheca helianthoides L. 



Tetragonotheca. Fig. 4440. 



Tetragonotheca helianthoides L. Sp. PI. 903. 1753. 



Viscidly pubescent ; stem brancned or sim- 

 ple, i-2i high Leaves ovate, ovate-oblong, 

 or somewhat rhomboid, thin, coarsely and un- 

 equally dentate, pinnately veined, acute at the 

 apex, narrowed at the sessile or somewhat 

 clasping base, 2'-6' long, i'-3' wide; heads 

 usually few, li'-3' broad ; involucre 4-angled 

 in the bud, its principal bracts broadly ovate, 

 acute; rays 6-10, strongly parallel-nerved, 2-3- 

 toothed ; corolla-tube villous below ; achenes 

 4-sided, or nearly terete; pappus none. 



In dry soil, Virginia to Tennessee, Florida and 

 Alabama. May-June. Sometimes flowering again 

 in autumn. 



