288 COMPOSITE. Verbesina. 



broadly ovate to oblong, thickish, serrate, triplinerved : heads hemispherical, three-fourths 

 inch high: bracts of the involucre oval or oblong, obtuse, in 2 or 3 series: rays about 12, 

 oval or oblong, sometimes inch long, rarely wanting : akenes obovate, smooth, with either 

 broad or narrow wings, and only minute callous teeth for pappus, or some of the inner with 

 short awns : receptacle low. — Actinomeris Wn'/jhtii, Gray, PI. Fendl. 85, & PI. Lindh. ii. 229 ; 

 Rothr. in Wheeler Rep. vi. 162, t. 8. — Rocky ground, W. Texas to Arizona, Wrl(jht, 

 Thurher, &c. (x\dj. Mex.) 



V. W^arei, Gray, 1. c. Scabrous, somewhat hispidulous : stem slender, a foot or two high, 

 simple, leafless at the peduncle-like summit, which bears one or two small heads : leaves 

 4 or 5 pairs, narrowly oblong, obtuse at both ends, obscurely serrulate, reticulate-vein}-, lucid ; 

 the u])per very small : bracts of the involucre oblong-lanceolate, shorter than the ovoid- 

 conical fruiting disk : " rays 3 or 4," small : akenes oblong, with narrow or rather broad 

 wings, connected by an obscure epigyuous border : pappus of 2 minute teeth or none. — 

 Actinomeris paucijiora, Nutt. in Am. Jour. Sci. v. 301, «& (§ Achata) Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 

 vii. 364 ; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. But there is a V. paucijiora of Hemsley in Mexico. — Florida, 

 in low pine l)arrens near the coast, Ware, Chapman. 



V. nudicaulis, Gray, 1. c. Scabrous-hirsute and hispidulous, 2 or 3 feet high; the naked 

 summit of the stem or branches bearing a few mostly pedunculate small heads : leaves in 

 numerous pairs, dull green, elliptical-oblong, obtuse at both ends or the apex acutish, acutely 

 and irregularly serrate, loosely pinnately veined : bracts of the involucre oblong-linear, short : 

 disk in fruit merely convex: rays 7 to 12, linear, an inch or more long, the head only 

 quarter-inch wide ; wings of the akeue often one or both wanting, sometimes rather conspic- 

 nous : pappus 2-aristellate or obsolete. — Heliant/ms? aristatns, Ell. Sk. ii. 428. Actinomeris 

 nudicaulis, Nutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 1. c. ; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. — Dry sandy woods, Georgia, 

 Alabama, and Florida. 



* * * Stems winged by decurrence of the more or less broad sessile leaves. Leaves in our spe- 

 cies only pinnately -veined : stems 2 or 3 feet high, simple or with sparing flowering branches. 



V. heteroph^lla, Gray, 1. c. Hispidulous-scabrous, below somewhat hirsute : lower leaves 

 nearly all opposite, approximate, oblong or oval, obtuse, sometimes acute, minutely serrate 

 (1 to 3 inches long), indistinctly veiny, decurrent into wings ; those toward the naked sum- 

 mit and on the slender flowering liranclies small, lanceolate, soon reduced to linear bracts : 

 heads somewhat paniculate, barely half-inch high in fruit, then with strongly convex disk : 

 bracts of the involucre barely in 2 series, small, lanceolate ; those of the receptacle very 

 similar, rigid: rays 5 to 10, linear: akenes obovate, narrowly winged, 2-aristellate. — Acti- 

 nomeris heterophijUa, Chapm. in Bot. Gazette, iii. 6. — Dry pine barrens, E. Florida, Chapman, 

 Garber, Curtiss. Related to the preceding. 



V. helianthoides, Michx. Pubescent, stouter : stem u.sually winged up to the short pedun- 

 cles : leaves alternate, or rarely some of the lower oppo.site, ovate-lanceolate or ovate, 

 acuminate, serrate, transversely veiny-scabrous above, canescently soft-pubescent beneath, 

 at least when young : heads few, fully half-inch high ; the disk and rece])tacle at maturity 

 either strongly convex or conical : involucre of 2 or 3 series of erect lanceolate bracts : 

 rays 8 to 15, inch or more long: akenes somewhat pubescent or scabrous, rather broadly 

 winged, 2-aristellate. — Fl. ii. 134; Pursh, Fl. ii. 5G5. Actinomeris helianthoides, Xntt. Gen. 

 ii. 181 ; Ell. Sk. ii. 413; DC. Prodr. v. 575, & vii. 290 (vars. Nuttallii & Elliottii); Torr. & 

 Gray, I.e. A. oj>j)ositifolia, DC. Prodr. vii. I.e., not of Fresenius ? — Prairies and open 

 woods, Ohio to Iowa, Georgia, and Texas ; first coll. by Michaux. 



§ 3. XiiiENESiA. Heads (solitary or scattered) broad: involucre of spreading 

 linear and foliaceous equal bracts : disk and receptacle merely convex : rays 

 numerous and conspicuous, usually fertile ; akenes flat ; the awns not hooked : 

 root annual. — Ximenesia, Cav. 



V. encelioides, Benth. & Hook. A foot or tAvo high, freely branching, pale and cinereous 

 or sDnictimes canescent with fine and soft appressed pubescence : leaves mostly alternate, 

 and tlie upper face green, from ovate or cordate to deltoid-lanceolate, variou.sly serrate or 

 laciniate-dentate, some with nearly naked, most with winged petioles, and these commonly 

 with auriculate-dilated appendage at base: heads large, the disk three-fourths inch in diam- 

 eter: rays 12 to 15, inch long, deeply 3-cleft at summit: akenes obovate, mostly broadly 



