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COMPOSITO. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 227 
— Perennial or biennial herbs, with alternate simple or lobed leaves, and showy 
heads terminating the stem or branches. Rays yellow or party-colored. Disk 
dark purple or yellowish. 
* Disk ovate or globose. 
+ Leaves undivided : stem simple or sparingly branched. 
1. R. hirta, L. Hirsute ; stem and branches naked at the summit; leaves 
3-ribbed, lanceolate or oblong, serrate, the upper ones sessile, the lowest nar- 
rowed into a petiole ; disk roundish, purplish brown; chaff of the receptacle 
acute, hairy at the apex ; appendages of the style subulate, — Dry soil, Florida 
to Mississippi, and northward. July and August. — Stem rigid, 19 - 29 high. 
Rays longer or shorter than the involucre. 
2. R. fulgida, Ait. Hairy; stem simple or sparingly branched, naked at 
the summit; leaves 3-ribbed, mostly serrate ; the lowest oval or oblong, on slen- 
der petioles ; the upper ones spatulate-oblong or lanceolate, slightly clasping ; 
rays commonly longer than the involucre; disk roundish, dark purple; chaff of 
the receptacle smoothish, rather obtuse ; appendages of the style short-conical. 
(R. discolor, Ell. R. spathulata, Michx., a smoothish mountain form, with spat- 
ulate mostly entire leaves, and smaller heads.) — Dry soil, Florida, and northward. 
August and September. — Stem 1°-3° high. Rays often turning reddish at the 
base in withering. i 
.$. R. mollis, Ell. Stem hirsute-villous, branching ; leaves oblong, ob- 
scurely serrate, sessile and partly clasping, soft-tomentose on both sides; the 
lowest somewhat spatulate ; scales of the involucre numerous, linear-lanccolate, 
villous, reflexed, half as long as the (12-20) rays; disk brownish; chaff of the 
receptacle rather obtuse, tomentose at the apex. — Western districts of Georgia. 
August ~ October. — Stem 2°-3° high. 
4. R. Heliopsidis, Torr. & Gray. Rhizoma prostrate ; stem pubescent, 
with few peduncle-like branches at the summit; leaves ovate or oval, slightly 
serrate, obtuse, smoothish, 5-ribbed, petioled ; scales of the involucre oblong, 
shorter than the brownish-purple subglobose disk, and (10-12) oblong-lincar 
rays ; chaff of the receptacle obtuse, pubescent at the apex ; achenia of the rays 
angled, as large as those of the disk. — Pine barrens near Columbus, Georgia, 
and Alabama. August and September. — Stem 2° high. * d 
+ + Leaves divided : stem paniculately or corymbosely branched. —— : 
5. R. triloba, L. Biennial, rough-hairy; stem much branched; lowest 
leaves long-petioled, ovate or oval, simple, or with two small lateral lobes, serrate ; 
lower stem-leaves 3-lobed ; the upper simple, sessile, often entire; heads small, 
numerous ; scales of the involucre narrow-lanceolate, shorter than the rays; 
disk almost black; chaff of the receptacle awl-pointed, smooth, as long as the 
: -— Var. PINNATILOBA, Torr. & Gray, is smaller and more slender, and 
the lower stem leaves pinnately lobed. — Dry soil, West Florida and northward. 
August and September. — Stem 2°-5° high. Leaves sometimes all undivided. 
Rays about 8, — Bre ae Eo 
.9 R. laciniata, L. Stem smooth, tall (4° - 65), branching; leaves - 
Tough; the lowest pinnately divided, the divisions lanceolate or oblong, 
