Benecio. LXXV. composite. 347 



47. VERBESlNA. 

 Heads few or many-flowered ; rays 9 , few or ; disk $ ; scales in 

 2 or more series, imbricated, *erect ; chaff concave or embracing the 

 flowers ; achenia compressed laterally, 2-awned. — % American plants, 

 sometimes shrubby. Lvs. often decurrent^ serrate or lobed. Hds. solitary 

 or corymbose. 



1. V. SiEGESBECKiA. Michx. (Coreopsis alata. Pli. Actinomeris alata. 



Nutt.) — SI. 4-winged; lvs. opposite, ovate or lance-ovate, serrate, acumi- 

 nate, tripli-veined, tapering to a winged petiole ; hds. radiate, in trichotomous 

 cymes; raijs 1 — 5 ; ach. wingless. — Roadsides and dry fields. Western and South- 

 ern States, common. Stem 4 — 6f high. Leaves 5 — 8' by 3 — 4', thin. Heads 

 about -iS-flowered, with yellow corollas and yellow, lanceolate rays, the latter 

 about I' long. Aug. Sept. 



2. V. ViRGiNicA. Virginian Crmon-beard. 



St. narrowly winged, pubescent above ; lvs. alternate, lanceolate or lance- 

 ovate, subserrate, scabrous, acute or acuminate, tapering to the sessile base; 

 lower ones decurrent ; corymbs compound, dense ; rai/s (oval) and disk fis. white ; 

 ach. winged. — Dry woods, Penn. to La. Stem (3 — 5f high) and leaves beneath 

 often more or less tomentose. Heads about 20-ilowered, the 3 or 4 rays scarce- 

 jy h' long. Aug. Sept. 



48. DYSODIA. Cav. 

 Heads many-flowered; rays 9; disk c?; involucre of a single series 

 of partially united scales, usually calyculate ; achenia elongated, 4- 

 angled, compressed ; pappus scales chafiy, in one series, fimbriately 

 and palmately cleft into bristles. — ® Lvs. mostly opposite a»dpi?mate- 

 ly parted or toothed. Hds. paniculate or corymbose. Fls. yellow. 



D. CHRYSANTHEMolDEs. Lagasca. (Tagetes pappusa. Vent. Boebera chr. 

 Willd.) — SI. glabrous, much branched ; lvs. pinnately parted, lobes linear, 

 toothed; hds. terminal; scales campanulate, united at base ; bracts at base 7 — 9, 

 linear; jmppus bristles slender, as long as the involucre. — Prairies, &c.. III., Mo. 

 to La. An ill-scented plant, above If high, resembling a Tagetes. Flowers 

 bright yellow. 



49. SENECIO. 



Lat. senex, an old man ; the word is synonjmoiis with Eri^eron. 



Involucre of many equal leaflets or invested with scales at base, 

 the scales withered at the points ; receptacle not chafiy ; pappus 

 simple, capillary and copious. — A vast genus, embraci?ig QOO species of 

 herbs and shrubs. Lvs. alternate. Fls. mostly yelloic, exceeding the 

 involucre. 



* Heads discoid. 



1. S. VULGARIS. Common Groundsel. 



St. paniculate, erect, angular ; lvs. sinuate-pinnatifid, dentate, amplexi- 

 caul. — A common weed growing about houses, in waste grounds, rubbish, &c. 

 Introduced from Europe. Stem 18' high, leafy, branching, generally smooth. 

 Leaves alternate, thin, bright green, the radical ones stalked. Flowers without 

 rays, terminal, scattered, yellow, appearing all summer. § 

 Y * Heads radiate. 



2. S. AUREUS. Golden Senecio. 



Radical lvs. ovate, cordate, crenate-serrate, petiolate, caulinc ones pinnati- 

 fid, dentate, terminal segments lanceolate ; ^^er^.subumbellate, thick; rays 8 — 13. 

 — % A handsome and very variable plant, in meadows, woods, &c. (U. S. and 



Brit. Am.) with golden-yellow flowers. Stem smoothish, striate, erect, 1 2f 



high, simple or branched above, terminating in a kind of umbellate, simple or 

 compound corymb. Lower stem leaves lyrate, uoper ones lew and slender 

 30 



