CHAPTER XII 



her ; he speaks of the numerous flower heads sometimes three 

 thousand on a single plant and of their richness in texture and color. 

 There is a Hemizonia, H. tenella, Gray., often collected in June on 

 southern hillsides, that is at first glance easily mistaken for a white 

 Gilia ; its three to five prominent ray flowers have the corollas very 

 deeply three-cleft 



Nearly all the Compositse we have been considering have both ray 

 and disc flowers ; but the genus Chsenactis belonging to the same 

 tribe as Bseria, and hence nearly related to the sunflower tribe, is 

 quite destitute of ligulate flowers, although its heads are handsome 

 and of good size ; the outer tubular flowers are large and usually 

 simulate ray flowers. The flowers are generally woolly, and the 

 plants are adapted to higher altitudes or dry regions, very handsome 

 species being found in the Mohave Desert ; the heads may be yellow, 

 white or rose colored ; the most common species about L/os Angeles, 

 C.glabriu scuta, DC., has yellow flowers blooming in company with 

 the tidy- tips. Eriophyllum confertiflorum , Dougl., the golden 

 yarrow, is also one of this tribe ; the plants are not more than two 

 feet high, but are woody and woolly, and are generally adapted to 

 dry hillsides and summer suns ; the small heads of deep yellow 

 flowers are massed in large flat-topped clusters similar to the true 

 yarrow. The true yarrow, Achillea millefolium, I/inn., is put in 

 another tribe, because of its involucres of papery or scale-like 

 bracts ; the clusters of small, white heads are large and showy ; the 

 leaves are very finely divided, and form rosettes close to the ground 

 that are so dense and green, in spite of dry soil, that the plant is some- 

 times used in lawns. The yarrow is highly scented, so are most other 

 genera in this tribe, such as the chrysanthemum, tansy, Anthemis, 

 or Chamomile {Anthemis cotula being the Mayweed), Artemisia, the 

 sage brush or wormwood, and Cotula coronopifolia, Linn., the common 

 weed of wet grounds, whose heads the children call brass buttons. 

 Some members of this tribe have heads with ray flowers, but several 

 have disc flowers only, the Cotula and Artemisia for instance ; the 

 flowers of the latter genus are very inconspicuous and are wind 

 pollinated. 



The thistle tribe has tubular flowers only. The corollas are deeply 

 slashed and the style branches are united nearly or quite to the tip. 

 The true thistle, Carduus, or Cnicus, has an exceedingly downy pappus* 

 each bristle being a long, slender plume. The large handsome thistle 

 most common in the south, is Cnicus occidentalis, Gray ; its spine- 

 tipped leaves and bracts are clothed with long white wool and cob- 

 webby hairs ; the flower heads are about two inches long and nearly 



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