ASTERACEAE. 407 



leaves spreading on the ground, runcinate-pinnatifid, spatulate 

 in outline, 8-16 cm. long, narrowed into long petioles; upper leaves 

 much smaller, lanceolate or oblong, lobed or entire, clasping or 

 auricled at the base; heads numerous, 25-40 mm. broad, 1-4 to- 

 gether in sessile clusters on the nearly naked or bracted branches; 

 flowers bright blue, rarely w^hite. 



Occasional in waste places. Hyde Park; Shermans. 



71. MICROSERIS Don. 



Acaulescent glabrous or slightly puberulent annuals, 

 with basal tufted leaves pinnatlfid with mostly linear 

 and often falcate lobes or entire. Heads solitary in 

 long leafless scape-like peduncles, these nodding in bud, 

 becoming erect in fruit. Involucre narrowly oblong to 

 ovoid or subglobose. Ligules short, yellow. Achenes 

 slender-fusiform or cylindric, ribbed, mostly truncate. 

 Pappus paleae 5, mostly short, abruptly or gradually 

 passing into the scabrous awn. 



1. M. elegans Greene. Scapes usually decumbent at base, 15- 

 35 cm. high; leaves pinnatifid; involucres broadly ovoid; achenes 

 slender, 3-4 mm. long, oblong-clavate; palese ovate, scarcely 1 mm. 

 long; bristles 6-8 mm. long, slender, fragile or deciduous. 



Near Santa Monica, Davidson. 



2. M. douglasii (DC.) Gray. Scapes 2-4 dm. high; leaves nar- 

 row, 1-2 dm. long; heads about 10 mm. broad; achenes oblong- 

 turbinate, 5 mm. long, the outer ones w^hite-villous; palea of the 

 pappus ovate, 2-3 mm. long, about half the length of the slender 

 persistent bristles. {M. cylcocarpha Gray.) 



Occasional in open grassy places on the north slope of the Santa 

 Monica Mountains. 



72. UROPAPPUS Nutt. 



Nearly acaulescent annuals with pinnatifid or entire 

 leaves and solitary heads on scape-like peduncles. 

 Heads erect, oblong. Involucral bracts about equal, 

 with shorter ones at the base, all membranous. Ligules 

 short, yellow. Achenes 10-12-ribbed, Pappus-pale?e 5, 

 elongated, tipped with a very short awn or bristle which 

 proceeds from the cleft summit, 



1. U. linearifolius (DC.) Nutt. Stems or peduncles usually 

 several from the base^ erect, 2-4 dm. high, in robust plants thickened 

 and fistulose under the oblong head; leaves linear, 7-15 cm. long; 

 2-4 mm. w^ide, with 2-several pairs of more or less serrate salient 

 attenuate lobes; achenes attenuate above into a beak, 10 mm. long; 

 pappus silvery-white, 12-14 mm. long; the awn delicate, about half 

 the length of the deeply notched palea. 



Common on grassy hillsides in the foothills. March-May, 



