COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 227 



— Perennial or biennial herbs, with alternate simple or lobed leaves, and showy 

 heads terminating the stem or branches. Kays yellow or party-colored. Disk 

 dark purple or yellowish. 



* Disk orate or globose. 

 ■*- Leans 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 ; chad' of the receptacle 

 a :ute, hairy at the apex ; appendages of the style subulate. — Dry soil, Florida 

 to Mississippi, and northward. July and August. — Stem rigid, l°-2° high. 

 Kays 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. 

 (It. discolor, Ell. II. spathulata, Mickx., a smoothish mountain form, with spat- 

 ulatc mostly entire leaves, and smaller heads.) — Dry soil, Florida, and northward. 

 August and September. — Stem l°-3° high. Rays often turning reddish at the 

 base in withering. 



3. 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-lanceolate, 

 villous, reflexed, half as long as the (12-20) rays; disk brownish; chaff of the 

 receptacle rather obtuse, tomentosc at the apex. — Western districts of Georgia. 

 August - October. — Stem 2° -3° high. 



4. R. Heliopsidis, Torr. & Gray. Khizoma prostrate ; stem pubescent, 

 with few peduncle-like branches at the summit; leaves ovate or oval, slightly 

 ferrate, obtuse, smoothish, 5-ribbcd, petiolcd ; scales of the involucre oblong, 

 shorter than the brownish-purple subglobose disk, and (10- 12) oblong-linear 

 rays ; chaff* of the receptacle obtuse, pubescent at the apex ; achenia of the rays 

 3-angled, as large as those of the disk. — Pine barrens near Columbus, Georgia, 

 and Alabama. August and September. — Stem 2° high. 



-*- -•- Leaves divided : stem paniadately or eorymboschj 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 

 flowers. — Yar. pixnatiloba, 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. 



6. R. laciniata, L. Stem smooth, tall (4° - 6°), branching ; leaves 

 rough ; the lowest pinnately divided, the divisions lanceolate or oblong, lobed or 



