Aster!] composite. 175 



or in the Hongkong specimens mostly obtuse, coarsely toothed, narrowed at 

 the base, the lower ones stalked, all very scabrous, and occasionally pubescent 

 underneath, usually triplinerved. Panicle terminal, corymbose, rather loose, 

 the peduncles mostly about the length of the heads. Involucre hemispherical 

 or subcampanulate, the bracts all obtuse and thin on the edges, in 2 or 3 rows. 

 Style-appendages narrow. Achenes flat, hairy. Pappus rusty-colour, a few 

 of the bristles very much shorter than the others. — Diplopappus asperrimus, 

 DC. Prod. v. 277, with the syn. D. laxus, Benth. in Lond. Journ. Bot. i. 487, 

 and Kew Journ. iv. 233. Aster Bentkami, Steetz, in Seem. Bot. Her. 385. 



On rather barren hills, Champion; Mount Gough, Wilford; also Hance. Frequent in 

 N. India, from Nepal to Sikhim and Khasia, extending in China to Shanghai and Chusan. 



3. A. hrevij}es 9 Bentk.,n.sp. An erect branching perennial orundershrub. 

 Leaves oblong or obovate, more or less toothed, obscurely triplinerved and 

 scabrous, more like those of A. trinervius than of A. baccharoides. Flower- 

 heads as in the latter species, few, on short peduncles or nearly sessile at the 

 ends of the branches, and turbinate-campanulate ; but the involucral bracts 

 differ from both species in being all acute. Pappus of A. baccharoides. 



Hongkong, Wright ; and a fragment in Champion's collection. It is possible that better 

 specimens may show it to be a remarkable variety of A. baccharoides. 



4. A. baccharoides, Steetz in Seem. Bot. Her. 385. Stem shrubby 

 at the base and branching. Leaves rather crowded, oblong-lanceolate to 

 obovate-oblong, entire or slightly toothed, narrowed at the base, triplinerved, 

 very scabrous on the upper side. Flower-heads few, sessile or on very short 

 peduncles, crowded at the summit of the branches. Involucre turbinate-cam- 

 panulate ; the bracts numerous, in several rows, obtuse, thin at the edges. 

 Style-appendages broadly lanceolate. Achenes flattened, hairy. Pappus dirty- 

 white, the short outer bristles very few or sometimes none. — Diplopappus 

 baccharoides, Benth. in Lond. Journ. Bot. i. 487, and in Kew Journ. Bot. iv. 

 233. 



Abundant on barren hills in the island. Also on the adjacent continent, but not known 

 out of S. China. 



12. ERIGERON, Linn. 



Flower-heads heterogamous. Florets of the ray ligulate, in several series, 

 not yellow, very narrow, either longer than the involucre and erect or spread- 

 ing, or shorter and filiform. Disk-florets numerous or few, hermaphrodite. 

 Involucral bracts numerous, narrow, in 1 or 2 nearly equal series, or rarely 

 imbricate, in several unequal series. Keceptacle flat or slightly convex, not 

 chaffy. Style-branches narrow, the appendages lanceolate. Achenes com- 

 pressed, usually pubescent. Pappus of copious capillary nearly equal bristles. 

 — Herbs. Leaves alternate or radical. Heads corymbose or paniculate, 

 rarely solitary, usually smaller than in Aster. 



A large genus, ranging over the greater part of the globe, but chiefly in the temperate re- 

 gions of the northern hemisphere. The following species belong to a section (Canotm) in 

 which the very slender female florets are hid in the pappus, either all really ligulate or the 

 inner ones, intermediate between the outer ligulate florets and the disk, are tubular and fili- 

 form as in Conyza. This section includes some other weeds of warm countries which may 

 possibly introduce themselves into Hongkong, especially the E. canadense and E. bonariense. 



