298 COMPOSITiE. Melantheba. 



2. M. deltoidea (Michx.) : leaves opposite, ovate-deltoid, undivided, or 

 obscurely angulate-lobed, canescent-scabrous; scales of the involucre ovate ; 

 chaff" of the receptacle somewhat membranaceous, obtuse, mucronulate. — 

 DC. I. c. M. urticaefolia, Cass. Melananthera deltoidea, Michx. I. c. (note.) 

 M. Linuffii, H. B. S^ K. Bidens nivea, Linn. I. c. {a. excl. syn. Dill.) ; 

 Sicarlz, ohs. j). 296. Galea aspera, Jacg. ic. rar. t. 583. 



Key West, Florida, Mr. Blodgett! — A common species in the West 

 Indies. 



84. ZINNIA. Linn. ; Gcertn. fr. t. 172 ; SchJcuhr, handh. t. 252 ; DC. 



Heads many-flowered ; the ray-flowers pistillate ; those of the disk tubular, 

 perfect. Involucre imbricate ; the scales roundish or oval, margined. Re- 

 ceptacle conical or somewhat cylindrical, covered with oblong conduplicate 

 chaffy scales which envelope the disk-flowers. Rays obovate or oblong, 

 coriaceous, reticulated, persistent, continuous with the summit of the acheni- 

 um, or rarely somewhat articulated. Lobes of the corolla of the disk densely 

 velvety-villous at the summit with colored hairs. Branches of the style in 

 the disk-flowers terminated by a hairy somewhat capitate cone. Achenia 

 nearly wingless ; those of the ray somewhat 3-sided, mostly destitute of pap- 

 pus ; of the disk compressed or flat, 1-2-awned or toothed, rarely naked. — 

 Annual (American) herbs, with opposite mostly sessile entire leaves. Heads 

 solitary terminating the branches, showy, persistent. Rays purple, orange, 

 scarlet, or greenish-white. 



1. Z.?)iidtiJlora {h'lnii.) : stem erect, branching, somewhat hirsute ; leaves 

 scarcely somewhat petioled [or closely sessile] ovate-lanceolate ; peduncles 

 longer than the leaves ; the apex (particularly of the central one) hollow and 

 inflated or obconical, striate ; scales of the campanulate involucre appressed ; 

 ligules obovate, obtuse or emarginaie ; chaff of the receptacle obtuse, entire ; 

 achenia of the disk with a single awn. DC. — Linn. spec. {ed. 2) 2. p. 1269 ; 

 Linn. f. dec. t. 12; Lam. ill. I. 685 ; Willd. si)ec. 3. p. 2139; DC! prodr. 

 5. J). 535. 



Louisiana, Wllldenoiv. Carolina, Bosc ! Alabama, Dr. Gates ! Key West, 

 Mr. Blodgett ! Texas, Dnumnond. ! Sept. — This is doubtless a native plant, 

 at least in some of ilie above-cited localities. The specimens accord with 

 the cultivated plant, in which also the leaves are often closely sessile, and 

 the species is probably, as De Candolle suspects, not sufficiently distinct 

 from Z. pauciflora, Linn. The rays are purplish in all our specimens, 

 while in that of Bosc (in herb. DC.) they appear to have been yellow. 



2. Z. grandiflora (Nutt.) : perennial ? dwarf; stem much branched from 

 the base ; leaves linear-lanceolate, connate, with scabrous ntargins ; scales 

 of tlie involucre rounded ; rays (yellow) very large, orbicular-oval ; paleae 

 fimbriate ; achenia of the disk with a single awn. Nutt. in trans. Amer. j^hil. 

 soc. (n. ser.) 7. p. 348. 



Rocky Mountains, Dr. James ! — A very distinct and splendid species. 

 Stem somewhat hirsute, scarcely more than 5 inches high. Leaves about 

 an inch long, 2-3 lines wide. Rays three-fourths of an inch wide, appearing 

 cordate at the base : disk apparently orange. Nutt. — The plant is minutely 

 strigose, and the crowded leaves arc impressed-punctate. 



