272 COMPOSITtE. Melampodium. 



of the involucre or clmflTof the receptacle when invested hy these), or winged. 

 Pappus none, or coroniform. Anthers united. 



Baltimora recta, Linn. (Fougerouxia recta, DC.) is a native of the coast of Mex- 

 ico, and not of Maryland, as Linnoeus supposed, being misled by the synonyrn he 

 adduced from Plukenet (Chrysantliemum Americanum, caule alato, amplioribus 

 foliis binatis, &c. Pink. mant. j). 4G, /. 34-2, /. 3.), which probably belongs to Ver- 

 besina Siegesbeckia. 



70. BLENNOSPERMA. Less. syn. p. 267 ; DC. 2^rodr. 7. mant.p. 288. 



Coniothele &; Apalus, DC. 



Heads many-flowered ; the ray-flowers 5-10, in a single series, pistillate, 

 the elliptical ligule obtuse at the base and articulated with the ovary, entirely 

 destitute of tube ; those of the disk numerous, tubular, sterile by the abortion 

 of the ovary. Scales of the involucre 5-10, elliptical or oblong, membrana- 

 ceo-herbaceous, nearly in a single series. Receptacle at length convex, not 

 chafly. CoroUa of the disk short, with a much dilated 4-5-lobed limb. 

 Anthers oval. Style in the fertile flowers with short obtuse branches; in the 

 sterile capitate. Achenia (of the disk none,) of the ray oblong, terete, nar- 

 rowed towards the base, canescent with pulverulent papillae (which when 

 moistened open at the extremity, or by 2 valves, and emit 2 long filaments 

 of extreme tenuity, soon forming an apparently gelatinous mass equal in 

 thickness to the achenia itself), destitute of pappus. — Annual slender and 

 somewhat branching small herbs (Chilian and Californian), with alternate 

 pinnately-parted leaves; the branches naked and somewhat pubescent above, 

 and mostly terminated by a single small head. Rays, disk-flowers, and 

 anthers pale yellow. 



1. B. Californicum : scales of the involucre and rays 7-10 ; a series offer- 

 tile apetalous flowers alternating with the rays ; branches of the style in the 

 fertile flowers oval, flat. — Coniothele Califoruica, DC. ! inodr. 5. p. 531 ; 

 Hook. SfArn..' hot. Beechey, su2}pl- p>- 352. 



California, Douglas ! — Plant 4-6 inches high, slightly pubescent when 

 young. — Beyond tlie characters given above, the Californian plant scarcely 

 diflers from B. Chilense, except in the rather fewer disk-flowers of the latter, 

 the linear-oblong branches of the fertile style, and the evidently 5-sulcate- 

 striate achenia. In both, the eUiptical ray is immediately sessile on the 

 ovary, and when it falls oft" leaves a round perforation close to its base. 

 The only distinction of any generic consequence between Blennosperma and 

 Coniothele is entirely unnoticed by De Candolle, and may not be constant ; 

 but if it prove a permanent character, it will be proper to preserve the name 

 of Coniothele for the section. It consists in the presence of a series of fertile 

 flowers alternate witli the rays, and exactly similar to them, except that, 

 instead of a sessile ligule, they bear a minute deciduous ring, which repre- 

 sents the ligule reduced to its mere insertion. These apetalous flowers we 

 uniformly observe in Californian specimens, but do not find in the Chilian 

 plant. — An excellent account of the structure of the pa])ilhe of tlie achenia, 

 and the included spiral filaments, as observed in some other Composites, is 

 given by Decaisne, in Ann. sci. nat. (ser. 2.) 6. p. 251. 



