Genus 40.] 



THISTLE FAMILY. 



395 



40. FILAGO L. Sp. PI. 927. 1753. 

 [Ev.\x Gaertn. Fr. & Sem. 2; 393. pi. 165./. j. 179'] 



White-woolly annual herbs, with alternate entire leaves, and small discoid clustered 

 heads, usually subtended by leafy bracts. Bracts of the involucre few and scarious. Recep- 

 tacle convex or elongated, chalTy, each chaffy scale subtending an achene. Outer flowers 

 of the heads in several series, pistillate, fertile, their corollas filiform, minutely 2-4-dentate. 

 Central flowers few, perfect, mainly sterile, their corollas tubular, 4-5-tootbed. Anthers 

 sagittate at the base, the auricles acuminate. Achenes compressed or terete. Pappus none. 

 [Latin 7>7««(, a thread.] 



About 12 species, natives of temperate or warm regions of both the New World and the Old. 

 In addition to the following, 3 others occur in the western and southwestern United States. 



I. Filago prolifera (Nutt. ) Britton. 

 Filago. (Fig. 3837. 



Evax proUfeya Nutt.; DC. Prodr. 5: 459. 1836. 

 Diaperia prolifera Nutt. Trans. \m. Phil. Soc. (II) 7: 



33S. 1841. 

 Filago prolifera Britton, Mem. Torr. Club, 5: 329. 1894. 



Stem simple, or branched at the base, very leafy, 

 2'-6' high. Leaves spatulate, obtuse, sessile, as- 

 cending or appressed, 4"-8" long, i"-2^" wide; 

 heads in a sessile leafy-bracted cluster, usually 

 subtended by i or several slender, nearly leafless 

 branches, each terminated by a similar cluster, or 

 these again proliferous; heads oblong or fusiform; 

 receptacle convex; chaff' of the central sterile 

 flowers woolly-tipped, that of the fertile flowers 

 scarious, mostly glabrous. 



In dry soil, Texas to western Kansas and South Da- 

 Icota, west to Colorado and New Mexico. .-Vpril-July. 



41. GIFOLA Cass. Bull. Philom. 1819: 143. 1819. 

 [Filago L. Gen. PI. Ed. 5. 175S. Not Sp. PI. 1753.] 

 White-woolly herbs, closely resembling those of the preceding genus, with alternate en- 

 tire leaves, and small discoid glomerate heads, often subtended by leafy bracts, the clusters 

 proliferous in our species. Involucre small, its bracts scarious, imbricated in several series, 

 the outer usually tomentose. Receptacle subulate, cylindric or obconic, chaffy, each chaffy 

 scale near its base enclosing an achene. Outermost flowers pistillate, fertile, with filiform 

 corollas and no pappus, or the pappus a few rudimentary bristles; inner flowers also pistillate 

 and fertile, but with a pappus of capillary scabrous bristles; central (uppermost) flowers few, 

 perfect, their corollas tubular, their pappus capillary and scabrous. Anthers sagittate at the 

 base. Achenes terete or slightly compressed, [.\nagram of /vVo^o.] 



About 10 species, natives of warm and temperate regions. In addition to the following, 3 Cali- 

 fomian species are probably to be referred to this genus. 



I. Gifola Germanica (L. ) Dumort. Cudweed. 

 Cotton Rose. Herba Impia. (Fig. 3838.) 



Gnaphalium Germanicum L. Sp. PI. 857. 1753. 

 Fila<;p Germanica L. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, 131 1. 1763. 

 Gifola Germanica Dumort. Fl. Belg. 68. 1827. 



Annual, erect, cottony, 4'-i8' high, simple, or branched at 

 the base, very leafy. Leaves sessile, lanceolate, linear, or 

 slightly spatulate, erect or ascending, obtuse or acutish, 3"- 

 12" long; stem terminated by a sessile dense cluster of heads, 

 usually subtended by several leafy branches terminated by 

 similar clusters and these often again proliferous; heads 12- 

 30 in each cluster, many-flowered; involucre ovoid, light yel- 

 low, its bracts mainly acute. 



In dry fields, southern New York' to Pennsylvania and North 

 Carolina. Old names Downweed, Hoarwort, Owl's Crown, Chafe- 

 weed, Childing Cudweed. May-Sept. 



