Genus 80. 



THISTLE FAMILY. 



57 



80. OTHAKE Raf. New Fl. N. A. 4: 73. 1836. 



Erect rough, glandular or cinereous, branching annual herbs, with alternate, mostly entire 

 leaves, or the lower opposite, and corymbose or panicled heads of tubular or both tubular 

 and radiate pink or purple flowers. Involucre campanulate or obconic, its bracts in 1 or 2 

 series, narrow, herbaceous, nearly equal, or with a few exterior shorter ones, appressed, 

 usually colored. Receptacles small, flat, naked. Ray-flowers, when present, pistillate, fertile, 

 the rays 3-cleft. Disk-flowers perfect, fertile, their corollas with slender tubes and deeply 

 5-parted campanulate limbs. Anthers entire or emarginate at the base. Style-branches fili- 

 form, acutish, glandular-pubescent throughout. Achenes linear or narrowly obpyramidal, 

 quadrangular. Pappus of 6-12 lanceolate strongly costate scales, that of the outer achenes 

 often much shorter. [Greek, warty apex, referring to the callous-tipped leaves of some 

 species.] 



About 6 species, natives of the south-central United States and Mexico ; in our first edition 

 referred to the genus Polypteris Nutt. Type species: Othake tenuifolium Raf. 



Rays purple, deeply 3-lobed ; leaves lanceolate. i. O. sphacelatum. 



Rays none ; leaves linear. 



2. O. callositm. 



i. Othake sphacelatum ( Xutt.) Rydb. Hooker's 

 Othake. Fig. 4534. 



Stevia sphacelata Nutt. ; Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 2 : 214. 1827. 

 Palafoxia Hookeriana T. & G. Fl. N. A. 2: 368. 1842. 

 Polypteris Hookeriana A. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 19 : 31. 



1883. 

 0. sphacelatum Rydb. Bull. Torr. Club 37: 331. 1910. 



Annual; stem rather stout, glandular-pubescent and 

 viscid above, i-3 high. Leaves lanceolate, entire, 

 acute or acuminate, narrowed at the base, rough on both 

 sides, the upper alternate, the lower opposite and slen- 

 der-petioled, 2'-4' long, 3" 5" wide; bracts of the invo- 

 lucre 10-16, linear-lanceolate or spatulate, glandular- 

 hispid, the inner w : ith purplish tips; ray-flowers 8-10; 

 rays rose-purple, deeply 3-cleft. sometimes small, or 

 none ; achenes about 4" long and i" thick ; pappus scales 

 of the disk-flowers 6-8, lanceolate, awned, more than 

 half the length of the achene, those of the ray-flowers 

 as many, spatulate, obtuse, shorter. 



In dry soil, Nebraska to Colorado, Texas and Mexico. 

 July-Sept. 



2. Othake callosum (Nutt.) Bush. Rayless 

 Othake. Fig. 4535. 



Sevia callosa Nutt. Journ. Acad. Phila. 2: 121. 1S21. 



O. tenuifolium Raf. New Fl. N. A. 4: 74. 1836. 



Poiypteris callosa A. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 19 : 3- 1883. 



O. callosum Bush, Trans. Acad. Sci. 14: 1 74- i94- 



Annual, glandular, at least above; stem slender, 

 paniculately branched, I-2 high. Leaves linear, 

 or linear-lanceolate, l'-2i' long, l"-24" wide, entire, 

 short-petioled, mostly alternate; heads discoid; 

 bracts of the top-shaped involucre 8-10, linear or 

 narrowly oblong, herbaceous, pubescent, about !' 

 long, their tips reddish ; corollas purple, deeply 5- 

 parted ; achenes narrowly obpyramidal, pubescent or 

 glabrous, nearly as long as the involucre ; pappus 

 scales obovate or nearly orbicular, rounded, or re- 

 tuse, or sometimes minute, or none. 



In dry soil, Missouri to Texas and New Mexico. 

 June- Oct. 



81. PICRADENIOPSIS Rydb.; Britton, Man. 1008. 1901. 



Herbs more or less woolly, with opposite leaves, and small corymbose heads, of both 



tubular and radiate yellow flowers. Involucre campanulate or hemispheric, its bracts in 1 



or 2 series, herbaceous, obtuse, appressed, nearly equal. Receptacle small, nearly flat, naked. 



foveolate. Ray-flowers in I series, pistillate, fertile. Disk-flowers perfect, fertile, their corollas 



