COMPOSITAE. 



VOL. III. 



i. Erechtites hieracifolia (L.) Raf. 

 Fire-weed. Fig. 4605. 



Senecio hieracifolius L. Sp. PI. 866. 1753. 

 E. prealta Raf. Fl. Ludov. 65. 1817. 

 Erechtites hieracifolia Raf. DC. Prodr. 6 : 

 294. 1837. 



Annual, glabrous, or somewhat hir- 

 sute; stem striate, succulent, usually 

 branched, i-8 high. Leaves thin, lan- 

 ceolate or ovate-lanceolate, dentate and 

 often deeply incised, 2'-8' long, the 

 upper sessile or auriculate-clasping, 

 mostly acuminate, the lower usually nar- 

 rowed into petioles; heads 6"-io long, 

 about 3" in diameter, the involucre con- 

 spicuously swollen at the base before 

 flowering, its bracts numerous, striate, 

 green, with narrow scarious margins; 

 pappus bright white. 



In woodlands, thickets and waste places, 

 very abundant after fires, Newfoundland to 

 Florida, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Nebraska 

 and Texas. Also in Mexico, the West In- 

 dies and South America. Pilewort. July- 

 Sept. 



ioo. MESADENIA Raf. New 

 Fl. N. A. 4: 78. 1836. 



Tall perennial mostly glabrous herbs, with alternate petioled leaves and numerous, rather 

 small, corymbose, discoid heads of white, yellowish or pinkish flowers, all tubular and perfect. 

 Sap milky (at least in some species). Involucre cylindric or nearly so, its principal bracts 

 5, in i series, equal, usually with a few short outer ones. Receptacle flat, not chaffy, with a 

 fleshy projection in the center. Corollas with somewhat spreading 5-cleft limbs, the lobes 

 usually with a mid-nerve. Style-branches conic or obtuse at the apex. Achenes oblong, 

 glabrous. Pappus of copious white scabrous bristles. [Greek, referring to the central pro- 

 jection of the receptacle.] 



About 30 species, natives of North and Central America. Besides the following, 4 others occur 

 in the southern and southwestern parts of the United States. Type species : Mesadenia atriplici- 

 folia (L.) Raf. 

 Leaves thin, reniform or fan-shaped, lobed, or angulate-dentate. 



Leaves green both sides, angulate-dentate. i. M. reniformis. 



Leaves glaucous beneath, green above, angulate-lobed. 2. M . atriplicifolia. 



Leaves thick, green both sides, ovate or oval, entire, or repand. 3. M. tuberosa. 



i. Mesadenia reniformis (Muhl.) 



Raf. Great Indian Plantain. 



Wild Collard. Fig. 4606. 



Cacalia reniformis Muhl. ; Willd. Sp. PI. 3 : 



I7S3- 1804. 



Mesadenia reniformis Raf. New Fl. 4:79. 1836. 

 M. rotundifolia Raf. New Fl. 4: 79. 1836. 



Glabrous ; stem angled and grooved, 4- 

 10 high. Leaves thin, green both sides, 

 coarsely angulate-dentate with mucronate- 

 pointed teeth, the basal and lower reniform, 

 long-petioled, sometimes 2 wide, the upper 

 ovate or fan-shaped, mostly cuneate at the 

 base, the uppermost small and oblong ; heads 

 numerous, mostly 5-flowered, about 2" 

 broad, in large compound corymbs ; invo- 

 lucre 3"-4" high, its bracts linear-oblong, 

 obtuse or acutish, scarious-margined, with 

 or without 1-3 minute outer ones. 



In woods, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to 

 Minnesota, south to North Carolina and Ten- 

 nessee. July Sept. 



