Heliopsis. composite. 303 



/3. gracilis : much smaller in all its parts ; stem very slender, minutely- 

 pubescent towards the summit; leaves lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, acute 

 at tlie base, scabrous. — H. Irevis /i., Hook.! compan. to hot. mag. 1. js. 98. 

 H. gracilis, Nutt. in trans. Aincr. p^iil. soc. I. c. 



}'. scuhra : stem and oblong-ovate leaves scabrous ; involucre pubescent 

 or somewhat downy. — H. scabra, Dunal! in mem. mus. 5. p. 56, t. 4; 

 Hook. ji. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 310. 



Banks of streams, and in dry soil, throughout the United States! /3. Lou- 

 isiana, Driimmond, Dr. Hale! Georgia, Dr. Boykin! Alabama, Dr. Gates! 

 &c. y. With the ordinary form, particularly in the Western States from 

 Saskatchawan to Arkansas ! — Stem 2-4 feet high ; in var. ji. 1-2 feet, and 

 bearing usually a single head. Exterior scales of the involucre extremely 

 variable ; sometimes scarcely longer than the innermost, and with very short 

 foliaceous lijis ; but often more spreading, almost entirely foliaceous, and 

 even slightly serrate at the apex, as long as or longer than the disk. Pedun- 

 cle thickened and obconical at the summit. Rays an inch or more in length, 

 bright light yellow. — The original Helianlhus Ivevis (H. foliis lanceolatis 

 serratis lajvibus, Gronov. fl. Virg.) is Bidens chrysanthemoides. Hence it 

 ■were to be wished that Persoon had taken the specific name from some 

 other of the numerous Linucean synonyms. We have so many forms inter- 

 mediate between H. l?evis, H. scabra, and the very slender var. gracilis, 

 that we unite them without the slightest hesitation ; although the extremes 

 appear abundantly different. 



88. TETRAGONOTHECA. Dill. Elth. p. 378, t. 283; Linn.; DC. 

 prodr. 5. p. 552. 



Heads many-flowered ; the ray-flowers (6-9) pistillate; those of the disk 

 tubular, perfect. Involucre double; the exterior composed of 4 large and 

 broadly ovate foliaceous acuminate scales, united towards the base into a 

 4-angled or 4-winged cup, valvate and reduplicate in sestivation; the interior 

 of about 8 very small oval-lanceolate scales, resembling the chaff' of the re- 

 ceptacle, partly clasping the achenia of the ray. Receptacle convex-conical ; 

 the chaffy scales membranaceous, lanceolate, acuminate, nerved. Corolla 

 hairy at the base ; the ray with a manifest tube ; the ligules large and broad, 

 coarsely about 3-toothed at the apex, many-nerved; of the disk deeply 

 5-toothed (10- or mostly 15-nerved) ; the teeth erect, glabrous. Style, in the 

 disk-flowers, bulbous at the base (above the annular epigynous disk) ; the 

 branches linear, hispid, tipped with an acuminate appendage. Achenia ob- 

 ovoid, nearly terete, thick, smooth, flat at the summit, destitute of pappus. — 

 A perennial herb, somewhat viscidly hairy, and sprinkled with minute resin- 

 ous globules. Leaves opposite, coarsely toothed, oval or ovate-oblong, nar- 

 rowed at the base, closely sessile, and often slightly connate. Heads large, 

 pedunculate, terminating the branches. Flowers pale yellow. 



T. helianthoides (Linn. !)— Willd. spec. 3. p. 2116 ; VHer. stirp. p. 177 ; 

 Pursh, JI. 2. p. 563; Ell. sk. 2. p. 407 ; DC. I. c. Polymnia Tetragono- 

 theca, Linn. ! syst. p. 658 ; Abbot, insects of Georgia, 2. t. 69 ; Schkuhr, 

 handb. t. 263. 'Silphium Tetragonotheca, Gcertn. Jr. t. 171. 



Dry sandy soil, "\'irginia ! to Florida! and Alabama! May-June, often 

 flowering again in Sept. — Root thick. Stem 2-3 feet high, terete. Leaves 

 3-6 inches in length, feather-veined, sometimes also triplinerved, either re- 



