258 COMPOSITE. Spilunthes. 



93. SPILANTHES, Jacq. (S^TA-os, a spot or stain, ar#os, flower; name 

 ordinarily without application.) Usually spreading or creeping herbs (mainly 

 tropical) ; with opposite and merely serrate leaves, rather small heads on pe- 

 duncles terminating the stem and branches, the rays when present yellow or 

 white, the disk-flowers yellow : herbage of some species acrid to the taste. Fl. 

 summer. Jacq. Amer. t. 214, Hort. Vinci, t. 135, & Ic. Rar. t. 584; Schreb. 

 Gen. 1266 ; DC. Prodr. v. 620. Spilanthus, L. Mant, 475; Gaertu. Fruct. ii. 

 t . iG7. Our species is of the section Acmella, DC. (Acmella, Pers. Syn. ii. 472), 

 having evident ligules. 



o * ? 



S. repens, MICHX. Perennial by the creeping base, slender, spreading or ascending, from 

 hirsuU'-pul >escent to almost glabrous: stems slender, a foot or two long: leaves from lan- 

 ceolate to oblong-ovate, an inch or two long, from sparsely denticulate to serrate, abruptly 

 or sometimes gradually contracted at base iuto a petiole : peduncles 2 to 4 inches long : 

 bracts of the involucre oblong-lanceolate, mostly obtuse: rays 8 to 12, yellow, rather shorter 

 than the obtusely ovoid disk- receptacle at length subulate-conical: akenes oblong, less 

 than a line long, not flat, most of them tuberculate-roughened in age and minutely liispidu- 

 lous, the margins not more so than the sides : pappus none or occasionally one or two mi- 

 nute awns. Fl. ii. 131 ; DC. Prodr. v. 623. S. repens & S. Nutlallii, Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 

 356. Anthemis repens, Walt. Car. 211 ; Pursh, Fl. ii. 562. Acmella repens, Pers. Syn. 1. c. 

 .1. npuis & A. occidcntalis, Nutt. Gen. ii. 171. Low or wet ground, S. Carolina to Florida, 

 Arkansas, and Texas. 



94. ECHINACEA, Mcench. ('E^u/os, hedgehog, or sea-urchin, in allusion 

 to the spinescent bracts of the receptacle.) Atlantic N. American perennial herbs ; 

 with thick and black roots of pungent taste (used in popular medicine under the 

 name of Black Sampson), rather stout erect stems, undivided somewhat nervose 

 leaves, the lower long-petioled, and solitary large heads on long peduncles ter- 

 minating the stem and few branches ; in summer. Rays from flesh-color to 

 rose-purple or crimson, much elongating with age: disk purplish. -- Meth. 591; 

 Cass. Diet, xxxv., xlvii., &c. ; DC. Prodr. v. 554, excl. sp. Mex. Urauneria, 

 Necker. ffeliochroa, Raf. Neog. 1825, no. 35, &c. 



E. purpurea, MCEXCII. Commonly smooth and glabrous, or the leaves hispidulous and 

 rough, sometimes the stem also hispid, 2 feet or more high: leaves ovate-lanceolate or the 

 lower ovate from a broad base, commonly denticulate or acutely serrate, most of them 

 abruptly contracted into a margined petiole, some of the middle occasionally opposite; 

 lower often 3-5-pliuerved involucre well imbricated: ligules (rarely almost white), at first 

 an inch long and broadish, in age often elongated to 2 inches or more. Torr. & Gray, Fl. 

 ii. 305, with varieties. E. purpurea & E. serotina, DC. Prodr. v. 554. Rudbeckia purpurea, 

 L. Spec. ii. 907 (Catesb. Car. t. 59 ; Pink. Aim. t. 21, &c.) ; Bot. Mag. t. 2 ; Schkuhr, Haudb. 

 t. 259; Bart. Fl. Am. Sept ii. t. 64. R. serotina, Sweet, Brit. Fl. Gard. t. 4, & Lodd. Oak 

 t, 1539 (R. jinr/iiifi a, var. m rut inn, Nutt. Gen. ii. 178), the hirsute or hispid form, which is 

 R. lii.-iptdn, Iloffm., and R. spcciosa, Link. Enum., ex DC. II<li<i<-lirna J.inmranti, elat/or, 

 a mm/ft, furcata, &c., Piaf. Neog. 1. c. Rich or deep soil, Virginia and Ohio to Illinois and 

 Louisiana. 



E. angustifolia, DC. Hispid, either sparsely or densely, a foot or two high, mostly sim- 4 

 pie : leaves from broadly lanceolate to nearly linear, entire, 3-nerved, all attenuate at base, 

 the lower into slender petioles; bracts of the involucre in only about 2 series: heads and 

 flowers nearly of the preceding (the fruiting disk often an inch high), or sometimes very 

 much smaller. Prodr. 1. c. ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 306; Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 5281 ; Sprague, 

 Wild Flowers of Ainer. t. 25. E. pallidn & E. santjiiitira, Nutt. in Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 

 n. ser. vii. 354. llmll,, ,-kla pall/da, Nutt. in Jour. Acad. Philad. vii. 77. Prairies and bar- 

 rens, Saskatchewan and Nebraska to Texas, and east to Illinois, Tennessee, and Alabama; 

 in several forms ; some too near the preceding. 



