COMPOSITE, (composite FAMILY). 445 



D. pu§tlla, F. et M. .03 to .06, glabrescent. Leaves sessile, 

 linear, muticous. Heads 10-15-flowered — Spring — Damascus to 

 Palmyra, and north-eastward. 



46. TRIPTERIS, Less. Tripteris. 



Heads many-flowered, rayed, heterogamous. Involucre in 1 row, 

 scales equal. Ray-flowerets strap-shaped, pistillate, fertile, branches 

 of style linear. Disk-flowerets tubular, five-toothed, perfect, sterile, 

 style undivided. Akenes 3-angled, 3-winged, with a short beak often 

 ending in an aperture closed by a membrane ; inner akenes often 

 wingless — Herbs or shrubs, with yellow flowers. 



T. TaiOantii, Dec. 5 -3 to .5, glandular-hirsute. Stem-leaves 

 oblong-lanceolate, toothed, half-clasping. Heads small, peduncled ; 

 scales of involucre linear ; akenes, including wings, .008 long, oblong- 

 spathulate, wings somewhat broader than the minutely tubercled seed 

 — Sinai. 



47. OU]^5>EI.IA, Tourn. Gundelia. 'AMuh. 



Headlets of 5-7 flowerets, subtended by a prickly bract of the 

 compound head, connate with the prickly, united scales of the in- 

 volucre, the central floweret of each headlet fertile, the others sterile. 

 Anthers long, linear, base obtusely sagittate. Style somewhat hispid, 

 branches thick, flat, cylindrical. Akenes large, somewhat compressed- 

 tetragonal, tapering at base, tipped with a spongy, minutely toothed 

 cup. The common involucre of each headlet growing, and united into 

 a leathery, obpyramidal body, spiny at tip, and falling at maturity — 

 Milky, prickly herbs, with aspect of Eryngium. 



O. Tourn efortii, L. % 'Akhub. Ka'ub. Kii^ail). A to .5 ; 

 stems thick, simple, or with a few, short, corymbose branches above. 

 Leaves leathery, rigid, very thick, with prominent vems, oblong to ob- 

 long-lanceolate, pinnately lobed or parted, spiny-toothed — Spring — 

 Fields and waste places ; common from coast to middle and subalpine 

 regions, and interior plains. 



Var. tenui§ecta, Boiss. Leave* nearly pinnately parted, with 

 little parenchyma — Akherdagh, and northward. 



4§, ECHIBi'OPlS, L. Echinops. Badawarcl. Shauk-el-Jemdl. 



Headlets mumerous, sessile on the common receptacle of a dense, 

 globular head, which is subtended by a reflexed involucre, concealed 

 by the heads, and composed of a few scales or bristles. The involucre 

 of the headlets in several rows, the outermost scales bristle-like, pin- 

 nate, forming a pencil, the rest gradually elongated from the outer 

 spathulate to the inner subulate or needle-tipped scales, the innermost 

 free or united. Corolla regular, tube slender, o-parted. Anthers ap- 

 pendaged at base. Style surrounded by a ring of hairs beneath its 

 branches. ^ Akenes elongated, nearly terete, generally villous. Bristles 

 of pappus more or less united, chafly, forming a crown — Thorny herbs, 

 more or less cobwebby or canescent. 



