438 Lxxiii. COMPOSURE (OLIVER AND hiern). [Centaurea. 



5. C rhlzocephala, 0. ^ H. An erect granular-hirsute stiff 

 herb, 1-2 ft. high, from a shrubby stock. Cauline leaves oval-oblong, 

 obtuse, sessile, rounded at the base, scarcely auriculate, 8-5 by about 

 1 in. Capitula urceolate-campanulate, 1-lJ in. long including the 

 florets, on pedicels J— § in. long, 3-9 together, in simple or compound 

 trichotomous cymes at the end of short radical or subradical shoots. 

 Involucral bracts deltoid or the inner ones deltoid-oblong, glabrous, 

 terminating with an appendix bearing 3-5 short spines. Ligule of 

 ray-florets white ; disk-florets rose-coloured. Achenes glabrous. 

 Pappus about y^^ in. long ; setae stout, compressed, acute. 



zrile Ziand. Bongo-land, Ssabbi, on the burnt steppes, flowering for the 

 second time, Nov. 20, 1869, Schiveinfurth ! 



A small specimen, perhaps flowering for the first time, with a head 1^ in. long 

 and young undeveloped leaves, collected by Petherick, probably by the White Nile, 

 may belong to this species. 



6. C prcecox, 0. Sf H. Erect perennial herb, branched below 

 from a woody stock, 1-2 ft. high ; branches obsoletely cottony above. 

 Leaves linear, acute, rigid, white-cottony when young, glabrescent, 

 sessile, not auriculate, ranging up to S hy ^ in. ; margins revolute, ob- 

 soletely denticulate. Capitula campanulate, urceolate in fruit, about 

 J-1 in. long, on radical or subradical and occasionally cauline peduncles 

 ranging up to 2 in., which usually appear just above the soil before 

 the leaves. Involucral bracts deltoid or oblong-deltoid, glabrous, ter- 

 minating with an appendix of 3-5 palmately set slender spines, the 

 longest of which is about ^— ^ in. long. Flowers yellow and bluish. 

 Achenes glabrous, thick, about f in. long. Pappus -^^ in. long ; setes 

 stout, compressed, acute. 



ITpper Guinea. Niger, Joruba, on stony hills, Barter ! 



7. C. Kochstetteri, 0. Sf H. An erect, whitish, puberulous or 

 cottony, branched herb, more than 2 feet high. Branches striate, sul- 

 cate below. Stem-leaves pinnatipartite or pinnatifid or the uppermost 

 ones subentire, sessile or nearly so, not auriculate, lJ-4 in. long ; lobes 

 linear or oval, the terminal one largest. Capitula campanulate, about 

 J in. long (exclusive of the ray-florets), on pedicels ranging up to 5 

 in., in open terminal cymes. Involucral bracts appressed, linear- 

 lanceolate or the outermost lanceolate and successively shorter, thinly 

 arachnoid and scabrid, terminating in a black acute hard quite entire 

 apiculus. Florets purple. Achenes setose at least above, ^ in. long, 

 obscurely ribbed. Pappus paleaceous, erect-patent, obtuse, as long as 

 the achenes. — Amherhoa abyssinica, A. Rich. Fl. Abyss, i. p. 453. 

 A. Hochstetteri, Buchinger in litt. ad Hochst. (Herb. Schimp. Abyss, 

 ed. Hohenacker. a.d. 1854, n. 2183). 



zrUe Xiand. Abyssinia, alt. 5,700-6,000 ft., Sckimper! Ouodgerate, Petit! 



8. C. Bomalenais, 0. ^ H. Branches white, obsoletely tomen- 

 tose below, cottony above. Leaves obovate (or the upper ones oblan- 

 reolate or linear), pinnately toothed and some lobed, pubenilous-glan- 

 dular on both surfaces, narrowed towards a sessile base or the lower 



