422 COMPOSIT.E. Malacothrix. 



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

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

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

 & Malacomeris, Nutt. 



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

 •i— Simplv scapose, with solitary large head, about 3-serially imbricatud involucre, and herbage 

 long-woolly when young. — Mulacuthrix, DC. 



M. Califomica, DC. Leaves once or partly twice laciniately pinuatifid into narrow linear 

 or almost filiform lobes, when young wooll}' with long and loose very soft hairs (wlience the 

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

 lucre; the outer bracts slender-subulate : delicate bristles of tlie 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, exel. var. (jlahrata, Eaton. — 

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



4— H— Subcaulescent or more leafj'-stemmed, more or less branching, early glabrate or glabrous: 

 involucral bracts nearly 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 tomentulosecauesceiit when young : flowers, &c., 

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

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

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

 and Arizona ; first coll. by Andcnton. 



■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, 

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

 a span to a foot high. 

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

 Jike ribs, a much less prominent pair in each interval : outer pap})us 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 ghxnd-tipped hairs. — Proc. 

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

 PI. Wright, ii. 105, 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 Stansburij. 

 M. SOnchoid.es, Tokr. & Gray. Akenes linear-oblong, 1 .'i-striate-costate, somewhat angled 

 by 5 modei-ately sti-onger rilis, the summit with a l.'i-denticnlate white 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. ^f. ohfusa,'Ea,ton, 

 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. Pendleri, Gray. Akenes cylindrical, ecjuably 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. — Pk Wright, ii. 104, Bot. Mex. Bound. 106, & Proc. Am. Acad. ix. 

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

 •H- -H- -H- Heads small, numerous and loosely paniculate on slender erect and rather naked stem 

 and brandies: involucre seldom over :i lines high, narrower, fewer-tlowered : the tips of the 

 bracts commonly sphacelate or purplish. 

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

 fornia, Xaiitns), is 2 feet high, with leaves mainly radical and lyratc-pinnatifid, panicle very 

 naked, narrow involucre 4 lines high, akenes obtusely 15-ribbed, five ribs moderately stronger, 

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

 Heads larger than in either of the following. 



