COMPOSITE. 249 



^^ inch long, linear. Achenes i/io inch, ellipsoid, 



strongly ribbed, brown. Wight Ic. t. 1 147. 



In shady places, e.g., woods. Pulneys : in and near Kodai- 

 kanal, flowering June. Nilgiris : commoner at lower levels. 

 Fyson 312. Bourne 264, 1574. 



Gen. Dist. South-east Asia on mountains from Afghanistan to Ceylon, 

 eastwards through the Malay Peninsula to China and Japan, and westwards 

 to Mauritius. 



Crcpis acaulis Hooker f. ; F.B.L iii 396, CVIII 8 ; Little 

 Hawkweed. A small herb common in the grass of the 

 open downs, with solitary yellow flower-heads which 

 appear after the first showers. 



Rootstock perennial, as thick as a lead pencil. 

 Leaves mostly radical, 2 to 4 inches, oblanceolate, with 

 sheathing base ; the margin with or without shallow 

 bays and also set with small close, backward-pointing 

 red teeth ; blotched often with purple on both sides, 

 quite glabrous. Flowering stem shorter or longer than 

 the leaves, sparingly branched. Heads few, I to I^ 

 inches, broad. Bracts of the involucre few, with thin 

 purplish margins and thickened midrib ; the three outer 

 ones about half as long as the five or six inner. Florets 

 seven or eight, all strap-shaped, five-toothed, their backs 

 purplish in the middle where not overlapped ; the 

 upper side pale yellow. Corolla tube hairy at the mouth. 

 Anthers fully exserted above the mouth, sagittate. 

 Branches of the style slender, ^ inch, hairy all along 

 the outer side. Pappus very white, achenes contracted 

 just below the top. t. 174. Wight Sp. Nilg. t. Ii8 ; 

 Ic t. II45. 



On the open grass land. Nilgiris : common at Pykara 

 (6,700 feet) and above. Fyson. Bourne ig^, 4og. 



The flowers open about lo a.m., and close before 4 o'clock. I adopt the 

 name Hawkweed rather than Hawksbeard for this species, though the true 

 Hawkweeds (Hieracium) are distinguished by the bracts of the involucre 

 remaining unaltered after flowering, the achenes not being contracted below 

 the pappus, and in other details, because this species is much more like in 

 habit and general appearance the Mouseear and Alpine Hawkweeds of 

 England than to any British species of Crepis. 



