Melanthera.'] lxxiii. compositji (oliver and hiern). 383 



points. Achenes with 2 very caducons scabrid seta? exceeding the 

 ovary. 



irile Xiand. Djur-land, Schweinfurth ! 



63. XIMENESIA, Cav. (VERBESINA, L.) ; Benth. et Hook. f. 

 Gen. PI. ii. p. 380. 



Capitnla hemispherical heterogamous radiate ; ray-florets $ lignlate, 

 ligule spreading, deeply toothed, yellow. Involucral bracts 1-2-seriate, 

 herbaceous, linear, acute, often unequal, equalling the disk; paleee of 

 receptacle conduplicate sheathing the florets. Anther- base obtuse. 

 Achenes compressed with winged margins ; pappus of 2 aristae. — 

 H^bs more or less hoary with opposite and alternate leaves and rather 

 large loosely cymose pedunculate heads. 



Reduced in the Genera Plantarum I.e. to the American genus Verhcsina. Being 

 the solitary representative of the genus thus confcolidated, we retain it under the old 

 hitherto generally received genus. 



1. X. encellodes, Cav. Ic. ii. 60, t. 1 78. More or less hoary 

 branched annual, 1-3 ft. high. Stem and branches pubescent- tomen- 

 tose, striate. Leaves mostly alternate at least the upper ones, from 

 deltoid to oblong, dentate, broad near the sometimes excavated base, 

 green and strigulose above, hoary with whitish closely appressed to- 

 mentum below, 1^6 by 1-3 in. exclusive of the winged auriculate 

 petiole of ^2 in. Capitula f-l^ in. diameter, on peduncles ranging 

 up to 8 in. Outer bracts of the involucre linear acute herbaceous, 

 about ^ in. long. Receptacle convex. Achenes pilose. — Pallasia ser- 

 ratifoliaj Sm. in Rees Cycl. vol. xxvi. 



A variable widely spread species originally from Mexico. 



Var. ohlongifolia. Leaves oblong, the lower ones ovate. Wing of the achenes 

 rather thickened, opaque, with rather acute lobes. 



Upper Guinea. Senegambia, Walo, Perrottet. 



Wile Ziand. Khartoora, Schweinfurth! 



Var. cana. Leaves deltoid or lanceolate, very hoary. Wing of the achenes vil- 

 lous, opaque, obtuse. 



irile Xiand. Kartoom, Petherick! Speke and Grant! Sennaar, cultivated. 



64. SPILANTHES, L. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. ii. p. 380. 



Capitula" heterogamous with a ray of uniseriate shortly ligulate 

 florets, or homogamous ray wanting. Involucral bracts short, much 

 shorter than the disk, 1-2-seriate, outer more or less herbaceous. 

 Receptacle elongate (in Tropical African species), palese conduplicate. 

 Anther- base truncate entire or 2- dentate. Pappus or of 2 or 3 seta). 

 Achenes compressed biconvex or the outer 3-cornered, margins often 

 ciliolate. — Herbs glabrous or pubescent, with opposite leaves and 

 solitary usually long-pedunculate yellow capitula, or ray sometimes 

 whitish. 



A wide-spread genus of warm regions of both hemispheres, including either many 

 nearly allied or few variable species. 



