COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 275 



slender stems and opposite leaves. Heads solitary, small. Flowers white; 

 anthers brown. (Name from cK\fiirte, to be deficient, alluding to the absence 

 of pappus.) 



1. E. alba, Hassk. Rough with fine appressed hairs ; stems procumbent, 

 or ascending and 1 -3 high ; leaves lanceolate or oblong, acute at each end, 

 mostly sessile, slightly serrate ; rays equalling the disk. (E. procumbens, 

 Michx.) Wet river-banks, N. J. to 111. and southward. Peduncles very 

 variable. (All tropical countries.) 



47. HE LI OP SIS, Pers. OX-EYE. 



Heads many-flowered, radiate; rays 10 or more, fertile. Involucral scales 

 in 2 or 3 rows, nearly equal ; the outer leaf-like and somewhat spreading, the 

 inner shorter than the disk. Receptacle conical; chaff linear. Achenes 

 smooth, thick, 4-angular, truncate ; pappus none, or a mere border. Peren- 

 nial herbs, like Helianthus. Heads showy, peduncled, terminal. Leaves op- 

 posite, petioled, triple-ribbed, serrate. Flowers yellow. (Name composed of 

 iJAios, the sun, and ttyts, appearance, from the likeness to the Sunflower.) 



1. H. laevis, Pers. Nearly smooth (1-4 high); leaves ovate-lanceolate 

 or oblong-ovate, rather narrowly pointed, occasionally ternate ; scales (as in the 

 next) with a rigid strongly nerved base ; rays linear ; pappus none or of 2-4 

 obscure teeth. Banks and copses, N. Y. to 111. and southward. Aug. 



2. H. SCabra, Dnnal. Roughish, especially the leaves, which are dis- 

 posed to be less narrowly pointed, the upper sometimes entire ; rays broadly 

 oblong to linear or oblanceolate ; pappus corouiform and chaffy or of 2 or 3 

 conspicuous teeth. (H. laevis, var. scabra, Torr. fr &ray.) Western N. Y. to 

 Minn., Mo., and southward. 



48. ECHINACEA, Moench. PURPLE CONE-FLOWER. 



Heads many-flowered, radiate ; the rays very long, drooping, pistillate but 

 sterile. Scales of the involucre imbricated, lanceolate, spreading. Receptacle 

 conical ; the lanceolate cariuate spiny-tipped chaff longer than the disk-flowers. 

 Achenes thick and short, 4-sided ; pappus a small toothed border. Perennial 

 herbs, with the stout and nearly simple stems naked above and terminated by 

 a single large head; leaves chiefly alternate, 3- 5-nerved. Rays rose-purple, 

 rather persistent ; disk purplish. (Name formed from ixivos, the hedgehog, or 

 sea-urchin, in allusion to the spiny chaff of the disk.) 



1. E. purpurea, Moench. Leaves rough, often serrate; the lowest 

 ovate, 5-nerved, veiny, long-petioled ; the others ovate-lanceolate; involucre im- 

 bricated in 3-5 rows; stem smooth, or in one form rough-bristly, as well as 

 the leaves. Prairies and banks, from W. Penn. and Va. to Iowa, and south- 

 ward; occasionally adv. eastward. July. Rays 15-20, dull purple (rarely 

 whitish), 1-2' long or more. Root thick, black, very pungent to the taste, 

 used in popular medicine under the name of Black Sampson. Very variable, 

 and probably connects with 



2. E. angustifolia, DC. Leaves, as well as the slender simple stem, 

 bristly-hairy, lanceolate and linear-lanceolate, attenuate at base, 3-nerved, ent/n- ,- 

 involucre less imbricated and heads often smaller; rays 12- 15 (2' long), rose- 

 color or red. Plains from 111. and Wise, south west ward. June -Aug. 



