Franseria. composite. 293 



radiate-penicillate at the summit. Fertile Fl. Involucre ovoid or oblong, 

 closed, covered with uncinate or spinescent prickles (composed therefore of 

 numerous pluriseriate united scales, each tipped with a prickle), 1-4-celled, 

 with a single flower in each. Corolla none, or a rudiment ap])ressed to the 

 base of the style. Stamens none. Branches of the style filiform, obtuse at 

 the summit. Achenia oblong. — Herbaceous or suffrutescent (American) 

 plants, with alternate coarsely toothed or lobed, or 1-2-pinnately parted 

 leaves ; the fertile heads somewhat aggregated at the base of the sterile spikes 

 or racemes ; the evolution of the latter mostly centripetal ! Sterile heads 

 ebracteate. 



§ Fertile involucre {1-cclled) mined with straigld sjiines. — Centrol^na, DC. 



* Pcrcrmial or siijfruticose. 



1. F. Chamissonis (Less.) : hirsute-canescent ; stems decumbent, stout ; 

 leaves roundish-elliptical, crenate-toothed, abruptly narrowed into a long 

 petiole; involucre of the densely spicate sterile heads 10-12-toothed, hirsute; 

 spines of the fructiferous involucre short and very stout ; achenia large. — 

 F. Chamissonis a. malv^folia. Less, in Linnfea, 5. p. 507 ; DC. I. c. 



(S. cunei folia: leaves oval or elliptical, tapering by a cuneate 3-nerved 

 base into a long petiole; the upper often incisely toothed. — F. cuneifolia, 

 Nutt. ! in trans. Amer. phil. soc. {n. ser.) 7. j). 345. 



Coast of California, Chamisso. /3. Mouth of the Oregon, i\^M/to//.' — Stem 

 (ligneous at the base. Less. ; succulent, Nutt.) 1-2 feet long. — Lessing re- 

 niarks that one of his specimens has the uppermost leaves bijiinnately divided ; 

 and in Nuttall's specimens they are sometimes incised ; so that the following 

 different as it appears, may not be distinct. 



2. F. hipinnatifida (Nutt.) : herbaceous ; stems decumbent, villous-hir- 

 sute; leaves silky-canescent, bipinnately divided; the ultimate segments 

 linear, short, obtuse, sometimes 1-2-tootlied ; sterile heads in a dense spicate 

 raceme, vi'ith nearly glabrous 10-12-toothed (about 30-flowered) involucres; 

 spines of the fructiferous involucre short and very stout. — Nutt.! I. c. 

 F. Chamissonis /3. pinnatisecta. Less. I. c. ; DC.' I. c. Ambrosia paniculata, 

 Hook. ji. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 309, as to spec, from N. W. Coast ? (but our spe- 

 cimen has no flowers.) 



Coast of California, very common, Chcunisso, Douglas! Nuttall! Nootka, 

 Dr. Scouler ! 



3. F. j)umil«- (Nutt. ! 1. c.) : silky-canescent ; leaves on long petioles 

 3-pinnatifid ; the ultimate segments linear-oblong, crowded ; sterile involucres 

 5-7-toolhed, about 12-flowered. 



St. Diego, California, Nuttall /—Plant 4-6 inches high. Spike not ex- 

 serted beyond the leaves. We have not seen the fruit. 



4. F. discolor (Nutt. ! 1. c.) : root creeping ; leaves interruptedly bipin- 

 natifid, nearly smooth above, closely canescent-tomentose beneath ; segments 

 subovate, acute, confluent on the wide rachis ; stem short, with the lateral 

 branches decumbent ; sterile involucres about 5-6-toothed. Nutt. 



Rocky Mountains near the Colorado of the West. A very remarkable 

 and distinct species. Stems about a span long, slightly pubescent. Leaves 

 with a lanceolate outline, about 6 inches loiig. Fertile flowers few: fruit 

 spiny. Nuttall. — Wc have not seen the fully developed flowers, nor the 

 fruit. 



