Senecio. 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 flants^ 

 smnetimes shrubby. Lvs. often decurrent, serrate or lobed. Hds. solitary 

 or corymbose. - 



1. V. SiEGESBECKiA. Michx. (Corcopsis alata. Ph. Actinomeris alata. 



jS'utt.) — St. 4-winged ; lvs. opposite, ovate or lance-ovate, serrate, acumi- 

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

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

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

 about 25-flowered, with yellow corollas and yellow, lanceolate rays, the latter 

 about' I' long. Aug. Sept. 



2. V. ViRGiNiCA. Virginian Crown-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 ; rays (oval) and diskfis. white ; 

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

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

 ly i' long. Aug. Sept. 



48. DYSODIA. Cav. 

 Heads many-flowered; rays 9; disk J'; involucre of a single series 

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

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

 and palmately cleft into bristles. — ® Lvs. mostly opposite and pinnate- 

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



D. cHRYSANTHEMoiDEs. Lagasca. (Tagetes papposa. Vent. Boebera chr. 



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

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

 linear; pappus bristles slender, as long as the involucre. — Prairies, &c.. 111., Mo. 

 to La. An ill-scented plant, aboA^e If high, resembling a Tagetes. Flowers 

 bright yellow. 



49. SENECIO. 



Lat. senex, an old man ; the word is synonymous with Erigeron. 



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

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

 simple, capillary and copious. — A vast ge7ius, embracing GOO species of 

 herbs and shrubs. Lvs. alternate. Fls. mostly yellow j exceeding the 



involucre. 



* Heads discoid. 

 \. 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, .'icattered, yellow, appearing all .summer. ^ 



♦ Heads radiate. 

 2. S. Ai-RKCs. Goldni S'nccio. 



Radical lvs. ovate, cordate, cronate-serrate, petiolatc, caulinc ones pinnali- 

 fid, dentate, terminal segments lanceolate; /j^-r/. subumbellate, thick ; raysS — 12. 

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

 Brit. Am.) with golden-yellow flower.'?. Stem smoothish, striate, erect, 1 — 2f 

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

 fompouna corymb. Lower stem leaves Ivrafe, upper ones few and slender. 

 30 



