27 



* ECHINACEA Dickson!. 

 Mr. Dickson* s Echinacea. 



SYNGENESIA POLYGAMIA. 



Nat. ord. Asterace^, § Senecionide^. 



ECHINACEA. Marnch. Capitulum multiflorum, heterogamum ; flos- 

 culis radii neutris longe ligulatis 1 -serialibus, disci hermaphroditis regulariter 

 5-fidis, tubo subnullo, fauce nuda, limbi dentibus erectis. Involucrum 3-seriale, 

 squarais lanceolatis, ciliatis. Receptaculum ovatum, paleis rigidis supern& carti- 

 lagineis flores disci superantibus onustum. Staminum filamenta ex ima corolla 

 orta. Styli rami appendiculis semilanceolatis superati. Achcenia tetragona, 

 obpyramidata, crassa ; pappo irregulariter lacero subcoroniformi deciduo coro - 

 nata. DC. prodr. v. 554. 



E. Dicksoni ; scabriuscula, pilosa, foliis radicalibus panduratis subtrilobis in 

 petiolum longe productis subdentatis caulinis ovato-lanceolatis, paleis flos- 

 culis brevioribus. 



This plant was raised in the garden of the Horticultural 

 Society from Mexican seeds, from the Tierrafria, presented 

 by George Frederick Dickson, Esq. It is nearly related to 

 JE. hcterophylla, but is a much prettier species, without the 

 coarse viscid hairs that clothe all the green parts of that plant. 



It recedes from the character of the genus in not having 

 any discoverable pappus, and in the scales of the receptacle 

 neither being rigid nor projecting beyond the florets of the 

 disk. 



It is a very showy perennial, growing about a foot high, 

 has dark -brown spindle-shaped roots, and is probably 

 hardy enough to endure an ordinary winter in the open 

 border, but it is better to take up the roots after flowering in 



* A very objectionable name, formed from the adjective echinaceus bristly 

 in allusion to the sharp points of the scales of the receptacle which bristle over 

 the centre of the flower-heads of some species. 



May 1838. l 



