FERNALD. — GENUS PECTIS. 65 



awns and low diffuse habit to separate it from the erect entire-leaved spe- 

 cies of § Pectidium with smooth awus. The subgenus Eupectis, too, as 

 recently defined by Dr. Gray, seems to contain two well marked groups, 

 and therefore essentially the distinctions made by him in Plantje Wright- 

 ianse have been adopted : § Eupectis., with definitely paleaceous pappus, 

 and § Pectidopsis, with a few slender but rather rigid aristae. The sub- 

 genus Pectothrix has been taken up as defined by Dr. Gray in the 

 Proceedings of the American Academy, it being impossible to find any 

 satisfactory character to distinguish the old and confused § Lorentea. 



As suggested before, these groups are not constant in their characters. 

 But with the exception of a few cases, they are fairly well marked. Some 

 forms of § Eupectis {P. Berlandieri and Sinaloensis) may have the pales 

 rarely deciduous from the bases of slender awns, thus assuming the 

 characters of § Pectidopsis. Other species {P. arenaria and bracteatd) 

 have in addition to deGnite pales some slender sette, in this making a 

 close approach to members of § Pectothrix (P. Hcenkeana, longipes, 

 canescens, &c.) with a few stout elongated setse. In § Pectidopsis and 

 § Pectothrix the pappus in either the disk or ray, or in both, may be 

 reduced, and in such cases species, ordinarily well marked, may be con- 

 fused. For instance, there are rarely such specimens of P. papposa with 

 subfastigiate heads hardly to be distinguished from similar forms of 

 P. angustifolia. In some species, too, of § Pectidopsis (P. filipes and 

 capillaris for example), the pappus, either in the disk or ray, consists of 

 rather stout smooth awns suggesting those of § Pectidium. In § Pecto- 

 thrix the bristles are normally more than 10, but in P. elongata and 

 diffusa they may become reduced in number and more or less dilated 

 below, as in species of § Pectidopsis (P. Berlandieri, &c.). Species of 

 § Het.eropectis generally show little tendency to run into the other sub- 

 genera, but the disk-pappus in two species, P. multiseta and ambigua, is 

 reduced. And in the apparently well-marked § Pectidium the pappus of 

 P. imberhis may sometimes have, in addition to the rigid awns, a few 

 paleaceous awns not unlike forms in § Eupectis ; or the pappus may be 

 entirely obsolete, as in the other subgenera. 



PECTIS, L. Rather low branching mostly aromatic or heavy- 

 scented herbs with opposite connate generally glandular-dotted leaves 

 mostly with a few basal seta?, rarely setiferous to the tip, or even naked : 

 heads small or middle-sized, mostly radiate, sessile or on bracteate 

 peduncles, solitary or subcorymbose : involucre cylindrical or campanu- 

 late, naked at the base, of a single series of equal free generally glandu- 

 lar-dotted carinate and often involute bracts, more or less conduplicate 



VOL. XXXIII. — 5 



