282 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



distinctive ligulate flower, the ligule being slender, upright, and short, 

 compared with the others, which are oval, usually reflexed, and large, 

 the specific distinctions between the latter consisting mainly in habital 

 characters. Again, the group characterized by five involucral bracts has 

 an element of confusion in it, due rather to the extreme variation from 

 a shrubby form, growing on hot and dry sea beaches, to herbaceous 

 forms found in wetter places. In one species, F. linearis, as heretofore 

 understood, may be found forms possessing no regular brandling at all, 

 and forms having the dichotomy characteristic of the genus. There is 

 also a variation from plants having the leaves mostly whorled, about 

 .2 cm. wide and 2 to 3 cm. long, to others having the leaves prevailingly 

 opposite, .5 to 2.5 cm. wide and 4 to 12 cm. long. Moreover, the inter- 

 nodes in plants of this so-called species vary from 1.5 to 5 cm. long, a 

 difference, however, which may well be due to individual environment. 

 Notwithstanding these differences, however, among the species, the genus, 

 as a whole, is one easily recognized and not likely to be confounded 

 with others. 



The characteristic habitat is shown by F. longifolia, which grows in 

 alkaline meadows of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The genus, for the most 

 part, is Mexican, though F. australasica is found only in Australia, and 

 F. repanda and F. chilensis have a range from southern United States 

 to Chili and Argentine Republic. F. linearis, also, grows in Yucatan, 

 Cuba, and Florida on the sandy beaches, and F. campestris is con- 

 fined, so far as is known, to the western central United States, Arkansas 

 to Colorado, growing in alkaline soil. The remainder, with the excep- 

 tion of the Florida species F. floridana, occur in Mexico. F. angustifolia 

 is found in rich valleys of Mexico and ascends to 2,000 or 2,500 m. 

 altitude, and F. chilensis has been reported at the same height in Peru. 



So far as uses are concerned, F. chilensis, Gmel., is the only plant in 

 the genus which has been reported of any economic value. Feuille, 

 Ruiz, and Pavon, all speak of its medical properties. The latter say 

 that the natives bruise the plants in a salt brine and apply to putrid 

 ulcers to drive out worms. Feuille states that, boiled in water, it makes 

 a beautiful yellow stain. 



In preparing this paper the library and specimens of the Gray Her- 

 barium have been consulted, as well as material from the private herba- 

 rium of Mr. John Donnell Smith, from the herbarium of the Missouri 

 Botanical Gardens, from the Engelmann Herbarium, and from the United 

 States National Herbarium. To those who have so kindly given the use 

 of these, and especially to Professor B. L. Robinson, under whose super- 



