176 PROCEEDINGS OP THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



wide, narrowed below to short petioles : cymes few-headed, scarcely 

 or not at all exceeding the upper leaves: pedicels } 2 -l inch in 

 length, pubescent: heads discoid, orange-yellow, 5 lines high, about 

 12-flowered: bracts of the involucre about 10, the outer oblong or 

 spatulate, obtuse, scarcely half the length of the flowers, the inner 

 more or less acute: corolla hispidulous upon the outer surface: 

 achenes black, with broad wings and two nearly erect awns : heads 

 of fruit subglobose : the plicate chaff with bright yellow curved tips 

 exceeding the achenes. — Dry rocky bluffs of barranca near Guada- 

 lajara, September, 1891 (n. 3845). This species differs from V. ser- 

 rata, Cav., in its shrubby habit, narrower leaves, somewhat smoother 

 stem, etc. Berlandier's no. 1289, collected at Monte San Juan del 

 Rio, November, 1827, is evidently nearly related to Mr. Pringle's 

 plant, but the specimen is too fragmentary for certain identifica- 

 tion; there appear to be slight differences in the achenes, and the 

 heads of Berlandier's plant do not have the chaff conspicuously 

 curled in fruit. 



Spilanthes Beccabunga, DC, var. parvula. Root a cluster 

 of thickened fibres: stems several, decumbent, 4-6 inches high, 

 rooting at the lower joints : leaves ovate, entire, including petiole 

 only 6-10 lines long, half as broad: heads a little smaller and rays 

 shorter than in the typical form: anthers dark, slightly caudate at 

 the base. — Wet soil, Flor de Maria, State of Mexico, August, 

 1890 (n. 3643). This may perhaps be a distinct species. 



Spilanthes disciformis. Stem prostrate, woody, verrucose, 

 rooting at the joints, and sending up numerous subsimple, more or 

 less fleshy, glabrous, purplish branches : leaves lance-oblong or lance- 

 linear, triply-nerved, entire, glabrous, 10-14 lines long, 1^-3 lines 

 wide, usually considerably exceeding the internodes, narrowed to a 

 blunt point, contracted below to a short, sometimes ciliated petiole: 

 peduncles at the ends of the branches, striate, glabrous, 2 inches 

 long: scales of the involucre ovate (not lanceolate nor oblong), 

 acute, subciliate : rays yellow, inconspicuous, scarcely exceeding 

 the involucre, the heads at first sight thus appearing discoid: re- 

 ceptacle much elevated: disk flowers yellow: anthers entire at the 

 base: achenes black, ciliate at the angles, and slightly hispid on 

 the faces, exaristate. — Wet meadows, near Guadalajara, May, 

 1890 (n. 3489). A stout, somewhat fleshy species, differing from 

 S. Beccabunga in its more woody stem, narrower entire leaves, 

 shorter rays, ovate scales, and entire anthers. 



Leptosyne pinnata. Acaulescent: root of several thickened 



