NEILGHERRY PLANTS. 9 
Sub-thibe Tarchonanthew capitula either dioicous (male and female on different plants) or heteroga- 
mous ; never radiate. Female flowers of the circumference many series very slender ; of the disk hermaphro- 
dite or male, fewer and larger. Anthers caudate. Leaves alternate. 
BLUMEA. 
Captitulum heterogamous. Flowers of the circumference many series truncated, 2-3 toothed, the 
throat scarcely dilated. Anthers very slenderly caudate at the base. Achenia terete. Pappus 1 series 
bristles capillary scarcely rough.—Herbaceous plants with panicled or loosely corymbose inflorescense : invo- 
lucrum imbricated many series, scales linear acuminated: receptacle flat, naked, or sometimes hairy : flowers 
yellow or purplish. 
is is an extensive genus first established by DeCandolle in the Archives Botanique for 1833, 
regarding which the author remarks. “It includes about 80 species nearly all undescribed. They are natives 
of India and a few of Africa ; I have not yet found any from America. Being obliged to give a new name toa 
genus soeminently Indian, I have dedicated it to M. Blume, author of the Flora of Java, who himself found 
many of the species and has rendered great service to Indian Botany. He well merits a more brilliant genus 
but I hope the great number of species will compensate for the modesty of their aspect.” 
The genus thus introduced to the notice of Botanists has since then been augmented to nearly 100 
species. As remarked by the author, their aspect is certainly modest, but they form an interesting group distin- 
guished from some other nearly allied genera by their terete not compressed seed, the latter being the dis- 
tinctive mark of Conyza, with which most of the previously described species had been confounded. 
The one here shown is not characteristic of the habit of the genus but is well suited to give a good 
idea of its Botanical characters. It is besides a plant so abundant and so strongly marked in its aspect that 
it is not liable to be mistaken by any one wishing to study the characters of the genus. I have met with it in 
other places besides the Hills 
BLUMEA ALATA (D. C.) stem herbaceous erect ra- —‘ stems herbaceous erect ramous, like the leaves 
( 
ous and, like the leaves, clothed with short redish clothed with short redish pubescence leaves oblong 
pubescence: leaves elliptic oblong, dentate, decurrent, ie denti iealiad: ce salgry bag, ings along 
forming wings along the stem: peduncles axillaryone the stem, peduncles axillary | pen pas headed race- 
or few headed, racemosely panicled: capitula sub- mosely panicled Secured ; capitu Pale uous: exteri- 
erect : exterior scales of the involucrum lanceolate, or scales of t . involucrum necliies folingaass, pu- 
foliaceous, squarrose, — cent ; interior linear sca- bescent, the interior ones long shini ariose recurv- 
riose as long as the bey rs.—Flowers purple males 10 a at the points, at length patent.” ‘This epe cies seems 
Cc. Te ery near B. vernoniodes, are they not vente of th 
“Seligheries not vifequent Of this species there same species . differin ng inthe degree of clot oe, the 
are 2 varieties referred to by D.C B cernua and y Na- e “tota dense velutino hirsuta” the other (VP. alata) 
palensis. The plant represented belongs to the for- “ spike brevi subrufa pubescenti-velutenis 
TRIBE IV.—Senecton1pe#. 
‘This is the largest tribe of the order including, according to DeCandolle’s arrange- 
ment, no fewer than 388 genera to which many have since been added. Of these 388 only 
36 have representatives in the Indian Flora, showing how small a proportion Composite bear 
in India to the rest of the vegetable kingdom. ‘The proportion Composite bear to the vas- 
cular plants of the world is about | t810: in India they do not quite amount to 1 in 20. 
In this tribe, the proportion its Indian genera bears to the whole, is about 1 to 10; but I 
suspect the proportion of species falls short of that ratio. Among its species are to be found 
some of the most splendid flowers to be met with in the vegetable kingdom, such as the 
Dahlia, Sunflower, &c. and on the other hand numerous others are as unassuming as these 
are conspicuous. Among its species too are many of the most useful plants, in an economi- 
cal point of view, belonging to this family. 
: D 
