COMPOSITiE. (composite FAMILY.) 437 



27. XAj^THIfJM, Tourn. Cocklebur. Badldnjdn-teridqi. 



Monoecious. Staminate heads globular ; inyolucrc of several 

 scales ; flowerets tubular, 5-tootlied ; receptacle chaffy ; anthers free, 

 not caudate ; style filiform, undivided. Pistillate heads ovate, 2- 

 flowered, involucre gamophyllous, 2-celled, covered without with 

 hooked prickles ; style 2-clef t ; stigmas papillose. Akenes compressed, 

 bald — Annual herbs, with alternate leaves and sessile, solitary or 

 racemed heads, the upper staminate. 



1. X. strumarmm, L. .8 to 1, unarmed. Leaves long- 

 petioled, scabrous, cordate-triangular, with irregularly toothed lobes. 

 Heads racemed — Spring and summer — 



Var. antiquoruni, Boiss. Prickles extending to tip of in- 

 volucre ; beaks divergent — Roadsides and waste places ; common 

 except in alpine and desert regions. 



2. X. spmoiUiU, L. .6 to 1, Spines at iase of leaves tripartite, 

 yellow, .01 to .03 long ; leaves canescent at lower surface, green except 

 along nerves at upper, short-petioled, loedge-sJiaped at base, oblong- 

 lanceolate, undivided or 3-lobed, the middle lobe much longer, 

 Staminate heads terminal, pistillate involucres usually solitary in axils, 

 nodding — Summer — Near mouth of Beirut River. 



2§. ECLIPTA, L. EcLiPTA. 



Heads many-flowered, radiate. Ray-flowerets short, slender, in 

 few rows, pistillate. Disk-flowerets tubular, 4-toothed, perfect. Scales 

 of involucre herbaceous, in 2 rows. Receptacle chafl;y. Branches of 

 style in pistillate flowerets short, filiform, in perfect rather dilated, 

 compressed. Akenes tubercled and puberulent at tip, bald, those of 

 ray-flowefets triquetrous, of disk somewhat compressed — Annual 

 herbs, with opposite leaves and white flowers. 



1. E. alba, L. .4 to 1, or more. Leaves obsoletely denticulate, 

 oblong-lanceolate, tapering at each end. Scales of involucre ovate, 

 obtuse, scarcely longer than flowerets — September to March — Wet 

 places ; Ghor-es-Safiyeh. 



2. E. marginata, Hochst. .5 to 1. Leaves dentate, oblong- 

 lanceolate to ovate-oblong, tapering at each end. Scales of involucre 

 oblong-lanceolate, twice as long as flowerets — August and September 

 — Swampy places ; Alexandretta to Amanus. 



29. BIDEIVS, L. Bur-Marigold. 



Heads (in ours) discoid. Flowers tubular, perfect. Scales of in- 

 volucre in 2 rows, the outer harbaceous.' Receptacle chaffy. Branches 

 of style tipped by a short cone. Akenes obovate-cuneate, truncate, 2- 

 4-bearded, beards persistent, retrorse-prickly — Annual herbs, with op- 

 posite leaves and yellow flowers. 



B. tripartita, L. 1 or more, glabrescent ; stem erect, 

 branching. Leaves petioled, 3-parted into lanceolate, toothed leaflets. 

 Heads erect, solitary ; outer scales of involucre linear-spathulate, un- 

 equal, green, spreading, twice to thrice as long as the inner, which are 

 oblong, brown, scarious-margined, about as long as flowerets — August 



