COMPOSITE. (composite familt.) 215 



top, with no pappus, or a minute crown-like border. — Chiefly perennial herbs, 

 with alternate leaves, and showy heads terminating the stem or branches ; the 

 rays generally long and drooping, yellow. (Named in honor of the Professors 

 Rudbeck, father and son, predecessors of Linnams at Upsal.) 



# Disk columnar in fruit, dull greenish-yellow : lam s divided and cut. 



1. R. laciniafa, L. Stem smooth, branching (3° -7° high); leaves 

 smooth or roughish, the lowest pinnate, with 5-7 cut or 3-lobcd leaflets ; upper 

 leaves irregularly 3-5-parted; the lobes ovate-lanceolate, pointed, or the upper- 

 most undivided ; heads long-peduncled ; chaff" truncate and downy at the tip ; 

 rays linear (l'-2' long), drooping. — Low thickets; common. July-Sept. 



* * Disk globular, pale brownish: lower leaves 3-parted : receptacle sweet-scented. 



2. R. subtoiliCBitosa, Pursh. Stem branching above (3° -4° high), 

 downy, as well as the lower side of the ovate or ovate-lanceolate serrate leaves ; 

 heads short-peduncled ; chaff downy at the blunt apex. — Prairies, Wisconsin, 

 Illinois, and southward. 



* * * Disk broadly conical, dark purple or brown : leaves undivided, except No. 3. 



3. R. triloba, L. Hairy, much branched (2° -5° high), the branches 

 slender and spreading; upper leaves ovate-lanceolate, sparingly toothed, the loiar 

 3-lobcd, tapering at the base, coarsely serrate (those from the root pinnately parted 

 or undivided); rays 8, oval or oblong; chaff' of the black-purple disk smooth, 

 awned. @ — Dry soil, Pcnn. to Illinois, and southward. Aug. — Heads small, 

 but numerous and showy. 



4. R. speciosa, Wender. Roughish-hairy (l°-2° high), branched; the 



branches upright, elongated and naked above, terminated by single large heads ; 

 leaves lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, pointed at both ends, pi doled, 3 - 5-nerved, coarsely 

 and unequally toothed or incised ; involucre much shorter than the numerous elon- 

 gated (1'-1V) rays; chaff of the dark purple disk acutish, smooth. — Dry soil, 

 W. Penn. to Ohio and Virginia. July. 



5. R. ftalgitfa, Ait. Hairy, the branches naked at the summit and bear- 

 ing single heads ; leaves spatulate-oblong or lanceolate, partly clasping, triple-nerved, 

 the upper entire, mostly obtuse ; rays about 12, equalling or exceeding the involucre ; 

 chaff of the dark purple disk nearly smooth and blunt. — Dry soil, Penn. to 

 Kentucky and southward. — Variable, l°-3° high: the rays orange-yellow. 



6. R. Ilil'ta, L. Very rough and bristly-hairy throughout ; stems simple 

 or branched near the base, stout (l°-2° high), naked above, bearing single 

 large heads; leaves nearly entire ; the upper ol>long or lanceolate, sessile; the lower 

 spatulate, triple-nerved, petioled ; rays (about 14) more or less exceeding the 

 involucre ; chaff of the dull brown disk hairy at the tip, acutish. — Dry soil, W. 

 New York to Wisconsin and southward. Now common eastward, in meadows, 

 of recent introduction, with grass-seed from the West. June — Aug. Coarser 

 and less showy than the preceding, variable in the size of the rays. 



38. LEPACHYS, Raf. (Obeliscaria, DC.) 



Heads many-flowered, radiate ; the rays few, neutral. Scales of the involucre 

 few and small, spreading. Receptacle oblong or columnar : the chaff truncate, 



