^48 COMPOSITE. 



black hairs down the middle. Florets orange-yellow. 

 Achenes J^ inch, pointed at each end, slightly curved, 

 ribbed and cross-ribbed : pappus white, feathery. 

 t. 173. Wight Ic. t. II43. 111. to Bentham's Brit. Flora 

 by Fitch and Smith No. 581. 



On the open downs. Pulneys and Nilgiris. Flowers from 

 May to January. Fyson 367, 22 iq. Bourne 1573. 



Gen. DisL Temperate climates of the Old World. 



CREPIS. F.B.L CVIII. 



Hawksheard. 

 Herbs with the leaves mostly from near the ground, 

 or if on the stem alternate and clasping the axis with ear- 

 like bases. Florets yellow, all strap-shaped, five-toothed. 

 Involucres narrow, cylindrical or enlarged at the base, of 

 two series of bracts ; the outer short, the inner much 

 longer and after the flowering is over with thickened and 

 hardened midrib : receptacle naked. Anthers pointed 

 at the base. Stylar arms slender. Achenes ten to thirty- 

 ribbed (not compressed as in SONCHUS and LACTUCA), 

 and contracted just below the summit, crowned by a 

 pappus of very white, fine hairs. 



As defined in Ge?t. Flant.^ species about 130 scattered 

 over the northern hemisphere, mostly of the Old World ; in 

 America fewer, and very few in the tropics and south of the 

 Line. 



Stem up to 18 inches, much branched below the flowers ; heads 

 J4 inch or less ; achenes with many ribs . . C. japonica. 



Flowering stem less than a foot high, not branched ; heads 

 I inch ; achenes with six thick ribs .... C. acaulis. 



Crcpis japonica Benth. ; F.B.L III 395, CVIII 6 ; 

 Japanese Hawksbeard. Leaves nearly all near the 

 ground, sinuate-pinnatifid or lyrate, with minute spiny 

 teeth. Flowering stems several, erect, nearly leafless, 

 I to 2 feet, slender, branched upwards so that the heads 

 are in a loose panicle. Involucres % inch across : bracts 



