422 COMPOSITE. Malacothrix. 



§ 2. Malacothrix proper. Involucre of narrow and acute or acuminate 

 bracts, only narrowly scarious-margined, much less imbricated : bristles on the 

 receptacle sparing, or fragile and deciduous, rarely none. — Leptoseris, Leucoseris, 

 & Malacomeris, Nutt. 



* Annuals: flowers light yellow, sometimes purplisli in fading. 



-i— Simply scapose, with solitary large head, about 3-serially imbricated involucre, and herbage 

 long-woolly when young. — Malacothrix, DC. 



M. Californica, DC. Leaves once or partly twice laciniately pinnatifid into narrow linear 

 or almost Ulil'orm lobes, when young wooU}' with long and loose very soft hairs (whence the 

 generic name), as also is the base of the broadly camjiannlate (two-thirds inch high) invo- 

 lucre ; the outer bracts slender-subulate : delicate bri.stles of the receptacle generally present : 

 akenes narrow, lightly striate-costate, the acutish base with a small concave callus : outer 

 pappus of 2 persistent bristles and between them some minute pointed teeth : scape a foot or 

 less high, bractless or nearly so. — Prodr. vii. 192 ; Gray, 1. c, excl. var. glabrafa, Eaton. — 

 Open grounds, California, from the Sacramento valley to San Diego ; first coll. by Douglas. 



•J— -i— Subcaulescent or more leafy-stemmed, more or less branching, early glabrate or glabrous: 

 involucral bracts ncarlj- or wholly of two lengths; the outer (or calyculus) short, proportionally 

 broader and loose. — Leptoseris, Nutt. 



++ Heads comparatively large, and on elongated or the earlier on scapiform peduncles: leaves and 

 their divisions long and slender, nearly as in the preceding species. 



M. glabrata. Erect, or with ascending branches from the base, these leafy, often again 

 branching and bearing a few lateral as well as terminal heads : involucre fully half-inch 

 high, glabrous, or outer bracts sometimes tomentulose-cauescent when young : flowers, &c., 

 as in M. Californica. — M. Californica, var. glabrata, Eaton, Bot. King Exp. 201; Gray, 

 Bot. Calif. 1. c. M. Torre i/i, Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. ix. 213, as to "slender narrow-leaved 

 form." — Dry eastern portion of the Sierra Nevada in California and Nevada, to S. E. Utah 

 and Arizona ; first coll. by Andcrsoii. 



•H- -H- Heads smaller, with broadish campanulate involucre seldom less than half-inch high, 

 short-peduncled on the leafy usually spreading branches : lower leaves oblong, rather short, 

 pinnatiliJ, with short and dentate lobes; teeth and lobes commonly callous-mucronate : plants 

 a span to a foot high. 



M. Torreyi, Gkay. Akenes linear-oblong, 5-angled by as many salient often almost wing- 

 like ribs, a much less prominent pair in each interval : outer pappus of 2 to 5 or sometimes 

 8 stouter persistent bristles, between the thickish bases of which are minute teeth : bracts of 

 the involucre acuminate : peduncles commonly with some sparse gland-tipped hairs. — Proc. 

 Am. Acad. ix. 213, & Bot. Calif, i. 433. M. sonchoides, Torr. in Stansb. Pep. 392; Gray, 

 PI. Wright, ii. IC), in part; Eaton, Bot. King Exp. 201, not Torr. & Gray. — Low grounds, 

 Utah to W. Nevada and S. E. Oregon, probably to California; first coll. by Stansburg. 



M. sonchoides, Torr. & Gray. Akenes linear-oblong, 1 ,5-striate-costate, somewhat angled 

 by 5 moderately stronger ribs, the summit with a l.'j-denticulate while border: no persistent 

 bristles : involucral bracts rather broader, merely acute : branches more diffuse : rhachis of 

 the principal leaves as well as lobes dentate. — El. ii. 486 ; Gray, 1. c. M. obtutsa, Eaton, 

 1. c, in part. Leptoseris sonchoides, Nutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. vii. 428. — Plains of W. Ne- 

 braska to New Mexico, Nevada, and adjacent California and Arizona ; first coll. by Nuttall. 



M. Fendleri, Gray. Akenes cylindrical, equably 15-costate, dark-colored ; the summit bor- 

 dered by a shallow cupulate crown, its margin entire, white within : no persistent pappus- 

 bristles or only one. — PI. Wright, ii. 104, Bot. Mex. Bound. 106, & Proc. Am. Acad. ix. 

 213. — E. New Mexico to S. E. California, Fendler, Bigeloic, Wright, Lemmon, &c. 



++++++ Heads small, numerous and loosely paniculate on slender erect and rather naked stem 

 and branches: involucre seldom over 3 lines high, narrower, fewer-flowered: the tips of the 

 bracts commonly sphacelate or purplish. 



M. XAnti, Gray, 1. c, the only outlying species of the genus (Cape San Lucas, Lower Cali- 

 fornia, Xnn^«), is 2 feet high, with leaves mainly radical and lyrate-pinnatifid, panicle very 

 naked, narrow involucre 4 lines high, akenes obtusely 1.5-ribbed, five ribs moderately stronger, 

 cupulate apex obtusely 5-toothed, outer pappus of 3 to 5 very slender persistent bristles. 

 Heads larger than in either of the following. 



