In water of ditches, swales and ponds and in open prairies in Okla. (Ottawa and 

 Pushmataha cos.), Tex. in the Timber Belt and the Coastal and Blackland prairies, 

 May-Aug.; from Conn., s. to Fla., w. to Minn.. Kan. and Tex. 



• 



3. Eryngiiim yiiccifolium var. synchaetuni Coult. & Rose. 



Plants slender; basal leaves to 35 cm. long and 1 cm. wide, remotely spinulose- 

 setose, \\ ith the weak setae in groups of 2 to 4 and to 1 cm. long; heads subglobose, 

 1-1.5 cm. in diameter; bracts 6 to 9, spreading or reflexed, linear-lanceolate, to 1 

 cm. long, entire or few-toothed; bractlets like the bracts but broader, about 5 mm. 

 long, entire, exceeding the fruit; sepals acute; petals oblong, 1.5 mm. long. E. syn- 

 chaetiiin (Coult. & Rose) Coult. & Rose. 



In water of depression, wet savannahs in pine woodlands, in Okla. {Waterfall). 

 Tex. in the Timber Belt and in the Blackland and Coastal prairies, July-Aug.; from 

 Ga. and Fla., w. to Tex. and Okla. 



Var. synchaetum is distinguishable from var. yuccifolium, if at all, with diffi- 

 culty; it may be an ecological variant, but it requires further study. 



4. Eryngium phyteumae Delar. 



Stem erect, slender, 3-6 dm. high, bearing a single head (rarely more); basal 

 leaves on very long petioles, oblong to narrowly oblanceolate, thin, slightly cre- 

 nate; stem leaves few, sessile, linear-lanceolate, acutely or spinosely toothed; head 

 ovate-oblong, about 12 mm. long, with involucre of numerous linear-lanceolate 

 spinose-tipped bracts (white within and green without) longer than the heads and 

 entire or sparingly spinose-toothed, and a conspicuous terminal tuft of exserted 

 bractlets resembling the bracts; ordinary bractlets narrow, with a long spinose 

 acumination; fruit with ovate abruptly cuspidate-tipped calyx lobes and long 

 slender styles. 



In water, in low places and cienagas, s. Ariz. (Cochise Co.), southw. into Mex., 

 Sept. 



5. Eryngium heterophyllum Engelm. Mexican-thistle 



Plants rather stout, caulescent, glabrous, 2-6 dm. high, perennial from a stout 

 taproot, the stems erect and branching; basal leaves rosulate. narrowly oblanceo- 

 late to oblong-oval, to 12 cm. long and 3 cm. wide, cuneate, acute or obtuse, 

 those of the sterile rosettes setose-dentate, the fertile leaves spinose-serrate to 

 pinnatifid or bipinnatisect, the teeth or lobes acute, pungent, callous-margined, the 

 venation pinnately reticulate; petioles narrowly winged, sheathing at the base, 

 shorter than the blades; cauline leaves numerous, like the basal, the lower 

 pinnatifid or bipinnatisect, the upper leaves opposite, sessile and palmately parted; 

 inflorescence paniculately branched, the numerous pedunculate heads rather small, 

 the flowers numerous; heads ovoid, blue to white, 7-15 mm. long, 5-10 mm. 

 broad; bracts 8 to 14, rigid, spreading-ascending, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, 

 to 25 mm. long and 5 mm. wide, pungent or acuminate, with 1 or 2 pairs of 

 spinose teeth or entire, green or bluish beneath and yellowish-white above, exceed- 

 ing or occasionally shorter than the heads; bractlets subulate, 3-5 mm. long, 

 entire, curved, exceeding the fruit; coma of 1 to 4 entire bractlets 5-15 mm. long 

 or occasionally obsolete; sepals ovate, about 1 mm. long, obtuse or truncate and 

 apiculate; styles slender, exceeding the sepals; fruit globose, 1.5-2.5 mm. in 

 diameter, with flat scales below the sepals and on the upper angles, the faces 

 papillate. 



In sandy soil along creek and rivers, Ariz. (Cochise, Santa Cruz and e. Pima 

 COS.), N. M. (Grant Co.) and in Tex. in mts. of Trans-Pecos, Aug.-Oct.; from 

 w. Tex. w. to Ariz. s. to Oax. 



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