588 COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 



1. Cichorium Intybus L. Sp. PL 813. 1753. Perennial from a long deep-set 

 taproot; stems slightly hispid, stiff, branched, 3-9 dm. high: basal leaves 

 spreading on the ground, runcinate-pinnatifid, spatulate in outline, 8-16 cm. 

 long, narrowed into long petioles; upper leaves much smaller, lanceolate or 

 oblong, lobed or entire, clasping or auricled at the base: heads numerous, 

 25-40 mm. broad, 1-4 together in sessile clusters on the nearly naked or 

 bracted branches: flowers bright blue, rarely white. Naturalized from 

 Europe; rare in our range. 



93. STEPHANOMERIA Nutt. 



Mostly smooth and glabrous, with branching or rarely virgate and often 

 rigid or rush-like stems, small or merely scale-like leaves on the flowering 

 branches, and usually paniculate heads of rose-colored or flesh-colored flowers. 

 Heads 3-20-flowered. Involucre cylindraceous or oblong, of several appressed 

 and equal plane membranaceous bracts and some short calyculate ones, not 

 rarely with 2 or 3 of intermediate length, thus becoming imbricate. Achenes 

 5-angled or ribbed, sometimes with intermediate ribs. Pappus a series of 

 plumose bristles. Ptiloria Raf. 



Perennials. 



Pappus plumose to the base; stems herbaceous, slender, erect . . 1. S. tenuifolia. 

 Pappus plumose nearly to the base; stems woody at the base, shorter 



and numerous . . . . . . . . . 2. S. pauciflora. 



Annuals or biennials. 



Pappus plumose to the base; leaves entire or sinuate . . . . 3. S. virgata. 



Pappus plumose above the middle only; lower leaves more or less pin- 



natifid . . . . . . . . . . . 4. S. exigua. 



1. Stephanomeria tenuifolia (Torr.) Hall, Comp. S. Cal. 256. 1907. Stems 

 herbaceous, from a perennial root, erect, with numerous ascending slender 

 branches, the whole plant 1-5 dm. high; herbage pale, glabrous: leaves 

 commonly erect, slender and almost grass-like, even the rameal mostly 2-5 

 cm. long; the early lower ones more or less runcinate: heads terminal; in- 

 volucre 8-10 mm. high, usually of 5 principal bracts and 5-flowered: achenes 

 striate; pappus-bristles 15-25, white or sordid, plumose throughout. S. 

 minor. (Ptiloria ramosa Rydb. Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 1: 453. 1900.) 

 Throughout our range, west to the Sierras, and north to the Canadian bound- 

 ary. 



2. Stephanomeria pauciflora (Torr.) Nels. Similar to the preceding, usually 

 lower, smaller in all of its parts, and somewhat woody at the base: the lower 

 leaves at least more or less runcinate-pinnatifid: pappus plumose nearly to 

 the base. S. runcinata in part. (Ptiloria pauciflora Raf. Atl. Journ. 145. 

 1832.) Sparingly if at all in our range; on the plains; from Nebraska to Texas. 



3. Stephanomeria virgata Benth. Bot. Sulph. 32. 1844. Stems rigid, 

 virgate or usually with virgate branches, sometimes widely and paniculately 

 branched, 3-20 or even 40 dm. high; herbage usually glabrous: lower leaves 

 oblong or spatulate, often sinuate or pinnatifid; upper leaves linear, small 

 and entire: heads subsessile along the naked branches, mostly 4-16-flowered; 

 involucre 7 mm. high: ligules reddish-purple on the back, lighter on the upper 

 surface, sometimes clear white: achenes subclavate or oblong, longitudinally 

 ribbed, the intervening spaces more or less rugose and traversed by a deep 

 narrow groove: pappus clear white, plumose almost throughout, fragile but 

 the base commonly persistent. Probably reaching our range from the west. 



4. Stephanomeria exigua Nutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 7: 428. 1841. Plant 

 2-6 dm. high; stem with numerous ascending or spreading branches, glabrous 

 below, often minutely glandular-pubescent above : lower leaves narrowly ob- 

 long, remotely lobed, auriculate-clasping, the upper cauline small and bract- 

 like: heads scattered or somewhat paniculate, numerous; involucre 6 or 7 mm. 

 high, of about 5 principal bracts, mostly 5-flowered: ligules ;it first rose-color, 

 soon turning sordid-yellow, 5 mm. long: achenes linoar-oblong, 5-angled, with 

 a double row of tubercles between the angles; principal pappus-bristles 8-18, 



