358 COMPOSITE. Lipoch^ta. 



disk pubescent, oblong-linear, compressed ; the awns in the latter 2, some- 

 times 1 or 3, rather shorter than the corolla ; in the former 3, often unequal, 

 shorter than those of the disk. Mature acheuia unknown. — Apparently 

 allied to L. strigosa, DC. 



109. VERBESINA. Linn, (partly); Less. syn. p. 231; DC. prodr. 



Species of Verbesina & Siegesbeckia, Linii. 



Heads several-many-flowered ; the ray-flowers ligulate, usually few, 

 rarely wanting. Scales of the involucre erect, imbricated in two or more 

 often unequal series. Receptacle flat or rather convex ; the chaff concave 

 or embracing the flowers. Corolla of the disk with a short tube, and a cylin- 

 draceous 5-toolhed limb. Branches of the style with an acute appendage. 

 Achenia nearly flat (compressed laterally) winged or wingless, 2-awned. — 

 Perennial or suffrutescent (American) plants; the serrate or lobed leaves 

 often decurrent on the stem. Heads solitary or corymbose. Flowers white 

 or yellow. Anthers blackish. 



§ Heads radiate ; the rays in a single series : achenia usually with 2 simi- 

 lar and equal aions. — Verbesinaria, DC. 



* Leaves opposite : flowers of the disk and ray yellow. 



1. V. SiegesbecHa (Michx.) : stem 4-winged ; leaves ovate or ovate-lan- 

 ceolate, sharply serrate, acuminate at both ends, triplinerved ; heads in tri- 

 chotomous somewhat cymose corymbs ; scales of the involucre few (8-10) 

 and obtuse, in 2 series ; rays 1-5, lanceolate ; achenia obovate-oblong, wing- 

 less, hairy, 2-awned; those of the ray rarely 1-awned or awnless. — Michx. ! 

 fl. 2. jp. 134 / Willd. spec. 3. p. 2224 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 565 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 

 412. V. Phaethusa & Siegesbeckia, DC. jj^odr. 5. p. 616? V. occidenta- 

 \is, Walt. Car. p. 213. V. foliis ovatis petiolatis, &c., Gronov.! fl. Virg. 

 ed. 1. p. 179. Siegesbeckia occidentalis, Linn. ! sjyec. 2. p. 901, Sf ed. 2. 

 p. 1269. Chrysanthemum Americanum caule alato, &c.. Pink. mant. t. 

 342. Phasthusa Americana, Gcertn. fr. 2. p. 425, t. 169,/. 3? P. bore- 

 alis, Spreng. syst. 3. p. 591 .'' Coreopsis alata, Pursh, fl. 2. p. 567 ; and 

 therefore Actinomeris alata, Nutt. gen. 2. p. 181. 



Dry woods and road-sides,very common in the Southern and Western States ! 

 Aug.-Sept. — Stem 4-6 feet high. Leaves large, membranaceous, often pu- 

 bescent, especially beneath, abruptly tapering into a margined petiole. Rays 

 8-10 lines long ; those of the disk about 20 in number : the tube of the co- 

 rolla in both pubescent. Chaff" lanceolate, acute, nearly as long as the disk. 

 Awns of the achenia slender, often divergent or recurved when old. — The 

 plant we have described is certainly the Siegesbeckia occidentalis of Lin- 

 naeus and Gronovius, and is the only North American species with opposite 

 leaves that we have seen : the leaves appear to be always triplinerved ; but 

 the uppermost often indistinctly so. We are doubtful whether it be the 

 Phaethusa of Geertner, which seems however to differ only in wanting the 

 awns : these are sometimes absent in the ray of our plant, and the short 

 bristly hairs of the achenium, some of which crown the summit, accord very 

 well with Gsertner^s and De Candolle's description, although they have 

 nothing to do with the pappus. The plant, according to De CandoUe, is 

 somewhat dioecious in cultivation. 



