322 Lxxiii. COMPOSITE (OLiVEE AND hiern). [Blumea. 



26. BLUMEA, DC. ; Benfch. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. ii. p. 289. 



Capitula heterogamous, many-flowered, disciform ; outer florets $ 

 numerous, filiform ; disk-florets hermaphrodite or sterile. Involucre 

 hemispherical or campanulate ; scales pauci- or pluriseriate, usually 

 scarcely rigid, narrow-linear ; outer shorter. Receptacle naked. Co- 

 rolla of ? fl. tubular, filiform; ligule or rudimentary; of inner fl. 

 tubular, 5-toothed. Anther-base tailed. Style-branches narrow- 

 linear. Achenes subterete or angular, with basal callus ; pappus uni- 

 seria^te, setiform. — Herbs. Leaves alternate from linear to elliptical or 

 obovate, entire toothed or pinuatifid, often villous or pubescent. Ca- 

 pitula usually hairy in corymbose or congested panicles. 

 A large weedy genixs of the Old World Tropics. 



Leaves auricled, often interruptedly decurrent I. B. attrita. 



Leaves not auricled nor decurrent. 



Softly pubescent at least above. Leaves obovate, attenuate at 



base • 2. B. lacera. 



Glabrous or puberulous. Leaves linear or oblanceolate, upper 



rounded and clasping at base 3. B. ahyssinica. 



1. B. aurita, DC. Prodr. v. p. 449. Pubescent or loosely pilose 

 erect herb of 1^3 ft. ; branches striate, leafy. Leaves alternate, mem- 

 branous ; radical obovate or elliptical, unequally broadly toothed or 

 pinnatifid toward the winged petiole ; cauline obovate-oblong or oblong, 

 deeply toothed or pinnatifid or lyrate-pinnatipartite, acute or obtuse, 

 sessile and auricled at the base, often interruptedly decurrent in a 

 double series of spreading lobes ; 1^-4^ in. long. Capitula campanu- 

 late, ^— I in. diam., oo-flowered on unequal pedicels varying to 1^ in. 

 long, in wide corymbose or diS'use terminal panicles. Scales of invo- 

 lucre pluriseriate, narrowly linear-lanceolate, acutely acuminate ; outer 

 ones loose, shorter, densely hirsute with white spreading hairs. Re- 

 ceptacle naked. Ray-florets filiform ; ligule 0. Anthers tailed at base, 

 tips ovate- oblong, obtuse. Achenes thinly pilose, obscurely angular, 

 with small perforated callus. Pappus uniseriate, thin, white. — B. 

 ffuineensis, DC. 1. c. excl. var. Erigeron stipulatum, Schum. et Thonn. 

 Guin. PI. 385. Conyza argentea, Perr. et Lepr. ex DC. 1. c. C. gui- 

 neeyisis, Willd. sp. pi. iii. 1930. Pluchea Kotschyi, Schultz Bip. ! in 

 Hb. Kotsch. Nubic. n. 345. Laggera aurita, Schultz Bip. in Hb. 

 Schimp. Abyss, sect. iii. n. 1769. 



Upper Guinea. Senegambia, Leprieur ! Niger, Baikie ! Sierra Leone, Af melius! 

 zrile Iiand. Abyssinia, Schimper ! Hildebrandt ! Sennaar, Kotschy ! Nubia, 

 Kotschy ! Mittu-land, Schweinfurth ! White Nile, Pefherick! Schweinfurth ! 

 Occurs also in Egypt, Arabia, Cape Verde Islands, Scinde and India. 



2. B. lacera, DC. Prodr. v. 436. Erect or ascending herb, softly 

 pubescent or in some forms glabrate below, -^-4 ft. high ; stem and 

 branches terete, faintly striate. Leaves alternate, obovate or oblanceo- 

 late, obtuse, attenuate into the slender petiole, membranous, softly 

 puberulous or glabrescent, dentate or denticulate, 1-5 in. long, ^-2 in. 

 broad ; lower petioles ranging to 2 in. in length. Capitula purplish, 

 widely campanulate, ^^ in. diam., x-flowered, on unequal pedicels 



