COMPOSITE. (composite FAMILY.) 275 



slender stems and opposite leaves. Heads solitary, small. Flowers Avhite- 

 anthers brown. (Name from e/cAfiVo;, to be dejicient, alluding to the absence 

 of pappus.) 



1- E. alba, Hassk. Rough with fine appressed hairs ; stems procumbent, 

 or ascending and 1 -3° high; leaves lanceolate or oblong, acute at each end, 

 mostly sessile, slightly serrate; rays equalling the disk. (E. procumbens, 

 Mirltx.) — Wet river-banks, N. J. to 111. and southward. Peduncles very 

 variable. (All tropical countries.) 



47. HELIOPSIS, Pers. Ox-eye. 



Heads many-flowered, radiate; rays 10 or more, fertile. Involucral scales 

 in 2 or 3 rows, nearly equal ; the outer leaf -like and somewhat spreading, the 

 inner shorter than the disk. Receptacle conical; chaff linear. Achenes 

 smooth, thick, 4-augular, truncate ; pappus none, or a mere border. — Peren- 

 nial herbs, like Heliauthus. Heads showy, peduncled, terminal. Leaves op- 

 posite, petioled, triple-ribbed, serrate. Flowers yellow. (Name composed of 

 7]\ios, the sun, and o^^is, appearance, from the likeness to the Sunflower.) 



1. H. laevis, Pers. Nearly smooth (1-4° higli); leaves ovate-lanceolate 

 or oblong-ovate, rather narrowly pointed, occasionally ternate; scales (as in the 

 next) with a rigid strongly nerved base ; rays linear ; pappus none or of 2-4 

 obscure teeth. — Banks and copses, N. Y. to 111. and southward. Aug. 



2. H. SCabra, Dunal. Roughish, especially the leaves, which are dis- 

 posed to be less narrowly pointed, the upper sometimes entire ; rays broadly 

 oblong to linear or oblanceolate ; pappus coroniform and chaffy or of 2 or 3 

 conspicuous teeth. (H. Igevis, var. scabra, Torr. S^- Graij.) — Western N. Y. to 

 ]\Iinn., Mo., and southward. 



48. ECHINACEA, Moench. Purple Cone-flower. 



Heads many-flowered, radiate ; the rays very long, drooping, pistillate but 

 sterile. Scales of the involucre imbricated, lanceolate, spreading. Receptacle 

 conical ; the lanceolate carinate spiny-tipped chaff longer than the disk-flowers. 

 Achenes thick and short, 4-sided ; pappus a small toothed border. — Perennial 

 herbs, with the stout and nearly simple stems naked above and terminated by 

 a single large head ; leaves chiefly alternate, 3 - 5-nerved. Rays rose-purple, 

 rather persistent ; disk purplish. (Name formed from cx^^^s, the hedgehog, or 

 sea-urchin, in allusion to the spiny chaff of the disk.) 



1. E. purpurea, Moench. Leaves rough, often serrate; the lowest 

 ovate, 5-nerved, veiny, long-petioled ; the others ovate-lanceolate ; involucre im- 

 bricated in 3-5 rows; stem smooth, or in one form rough-bristly, as well as 

 the leaves. — Prairies and banks, from W. Penn. and Ya. to Iowa, and south- 

 ward; occasionally adv. eastward. July. — Rays 15-20, dull purple (rarely 

 whitish), 1-2' long or more. Root thick, black, very pungent to the taste, 

 used in popular medicine under the name of Black Sampson. — Very variable, 

 and probably connects with 



2. E. angustifolia, DC. Leaves, as well as the slender simple stem, 

 hristhj-hairg, lanceolate and linear-lanceolate, attenuate at base, 3-nerved, entire; 

 involucre less imbricated and heads often smaller; rays 12-15 (2' long), rose- 

 color or red. — Plains from 111. and Wise, southwestward. June -Aug. 



