of the Class Composite. 281 



libera, complanata, glabra ; orticulo superiore longo, sub- 

 stantia crassiore. Antherce in tubura coalitae, appendiculd 

 liguJatd obtusA, callos4 rigidd coronatae, basi bidentatae : 

 dentibus brevissimis, setaceis. Stigma bilobum : lobis ob- 

 tusis, minute papillosis. Achenia undique sericeo-villosissi- 

 ma. Pappus difformis ; hermaphroditis plumosus, moUissi- 

 mus ; flosculo disci setosus, radiis subulato-setaceis, recur- 

 vatis, rigidis, basi connatis. 



The character of Bacasia appears to have been constructed 

 entirely from B. corymbosa, whose only point of distinction would 

 consist in the reduced number of male florets, these being soli- 

 tary in each capitulum, while in Barnadesia there are several ; 

 but this must be admitted to be a character too unimportant to 

 be regarded as sufficient to constitute a generic distinction. 

 Ruiz and Pavon in their Systema Vegetabilium Flora Peruviana 

 et Chilensis added a second species to Bacasia, namely B, spinosa, 

 but without altering the generic character previously given in 

 their Genera Plantarum. It is evident they had not examined 

 this plant with due attention, otherwise it would have been im- 

 possible for them to have determined in referring to Bacasia a 

 plant which accords in so few particulars with their generic de- 

 scription, and which proves to be really a species of Chi/quiraga. 

 The Diacantha of Lagasca is apparently identical with Barna- 

 desia spinosa, but by no means with the Bacasia spinosa of Ruiz 

 and Pavon, which he has inadvertently regarded as the same 

 plant. The central florets of Barnadesia have been hitherto 

 described as sterile, but as the anthers evidently contain grains 

 of perfect pollen, 1 have considered them as male. 



2 o 2 Chuquiuaga. 



