624 CONTRIBUTIONS FEOM THE NATIONAL HEEBAEIUM. 



9. MALACOTHRIX DC. 



Low branching annual with numerous stems terminated by medium-sized peduncu- 

 late yellow heads; leaves mostly basal, pinnatifid; involucre campanulate, of numerous 

 narrow, equal, somewhat imbricated bracts and a few short outer ones; achenes 

 truncate atboth ends; pappus a very shallow entire cup. 



1. Malacothrix fendleri A. Gray, PI. Wright. 2: 104. 1853. 



Type locality: Low sandy banks of the Rio del Norte, New Mexico. Type col- 

 lected by Fendler. 



Range: Western Texas to southern California. 



New Mexico: Santa Fe; Sandia Mountains; mesa west of Organ Mountains; Mesilla 

 Valley; Organ Mountains. Dry mesas, in the Lower and Upper Sonoran zones. 



10. SITILIAS Raf. False dandelion. 



Nearly glabrous perennial ay ith a rosette of entire to pinnatifid basal leaves, alternate 

 divided cauline ones, nearly simple or much branched stems, and large heads of 

 yellow flowers; involucre a series of equal appressed narrow bracts with a few linear 

 short outer ones; achenes fusiform, with a long slender beak; pappus reddish, simple, 

 capillary, surrounded at the base by a soft-villous ring. 



1. Sitilias multicaulis (DC.) Greene, Pittonia 2: 179. 1891. 



Pyrrhopappus multicaulis DC. Prodr. 7: 144. 1838. 



Type locality: "In Mexico ad Tamaulipas et S. Fernando de Bexar." The first 

 locality is Mexican, the second Texan. 



Range: Texas to Arizona and southward. 



New Mexico : San Juan; Pecos; Albuquerque; Los Lunas; Socorro; Mangas Springs; 

 Kingston; Mesilla Valley; Roswell. Wet ground, in the Lower and Upper Sonoran 

 zones. 



This is a very variable plant. There seems to be no means of distinguishing Pyrrho- 

 pappus rothrockii A. Gray. That is a mere form and not worthy of nomenclaturai 

 recognition. 



11. AGOSEBIS Raf. 



Acaulescent perennial herbs with mostly narrow, entire, toothed, or pinnatifid 

 basal leaves, and large scapose heads of yellow, orange, or purplish flowers; involucre 

 narrowly campanulate or cylindric, of numerous narrow imbricated bracts, the outer 

 successively shorter, herbaceous, not thickened; achenes oblong or linear, terete, 

 10-ribbed, with a long or short beak; pappus of numerous capillary white bristles. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



Beak of achenes slender, about as long as the body, nearly smooth 

 at the middle. 



- Flowers yellow; leaves linear or nearly so 1. A. graminifolia. 



Flowers purplish or orange; leaves not linear. 



Bracts conspicuously blotched with purple 2. A. purpurea. 



Bracts not blotched with purple, sometimes slightly pur- 

 plish along the midrib. 

 Leaves glaucous, glabrous, pinnatifid with linear 



lobes 3. A. greenei. 



Leaves green, somewhat pubescent, entire or with 



broad lobes 4. -1. aurantiaca. 



