176 composite. lErigeron. 



Annual. Leaves narrow, sessile 1. E. linifolius. 



Tall perennial, often scandent. Leaves stalked, ovate 2. E. pyrifolius. 



1. F.. linifolius, Willd. Spec. iii. 1955. An erect annual, \\ ft. high, 

 more or less clothed with soft spreading hairs. Radical leaves stalked, oblong, 

 often coarsely toothed or almost pinnatifid. Stem-leaves sessile, linear, entire 

 and pointed. Flower-heads small, hemispherical, peduncled, forming a short 

 oblong terminal panicle. Involucral bracts narrow-linear, acute, in about 

 2 or 3 nearly equal series. Female florets very numerous, not so long as the 

 pappus, filiform, but at least the external ones expanded at the top into a 

 minute narrow ligula. Achenes flat, pubescent. Pappus dirty-white or rust- 

 colour. — Conyza ambigua, DC. Prod. v. 381. Erigeron ambiguus, Sch. Bip. 

 in Phyt. Canar. ii. 208. 



Common on roadsides and in the town of Victoria, Champion and others. Most abundant 

 in S. Europe and the Mediterranean region generally, but now naturalized in various parts of 

 the globe, where it has been probably carried out with Europeans. Less common, however, 

 within the tropics than the E. bonariense, which is a taller plant with smaller and more nu- 

 merous heads. 



2. E. pyrifolius, Benin. A perennial or undershrub, 3 to 6 ft. high, 

 the branches weak and often scandent, covered as well as the under side of 

 the leaves with a minute rusty pubescence or rarely nearly glabrous. Leaves 

 stalked, ovate, acuminate, entire or slightly toothed, 2 to 3 in. long. Flower- 

 heads numerous, in a broad terminal leafless panicle. Female florets as in 

 E. linifolius. Involucral bracts linear, nearly obtuse, in several unequal series. 

 Achenes slightly pubescent. Pappus soft and pale rust-colour. — Conyza py- 

 rifolia, Lam. Diet. ii. 89. Microglossa volubilis, DC. Prod. v. 320. 



At the estuary at West Point, Wilford. Found usually near the seacoast at various 

 points from Eastern Africa and Madagascar to Ceylon and the Indian Archipelago. 



13. CONYZA, Linn. 



Flower-heads heterogamous. Florets all tubular, the outer ones very nu- 

 merous, in several rows, female and filiform, those of the disk usually few, 

 hermaphrodite and broader. Involucres, styles, achenes, and pappus as in 

 Erigeron. — Herbs, with the habit nearly of the section Canotus of Erigeron, 

 or of some Blumeas, differing from the former in the total absence of ligulate 

 florets, from the latter in the want of tails to the anthers. 



The genus as above defined, and as understood by De Candolle, comprises a considerable 

 number of species dispersed over the warmer parts of the globe. Among them the C. cegyp- 

 tiaca, L., which extends to the adjacent continent ; and perhaps some others may find their 

 way to Hongkong with other tropical weeds. 



1. C. veronicsefolia, Wall.; DC. Prod. v. 382. Stems ascending 

 from a hard perhaps perennial base, nearly simple, about 1 ft. high, pubes- 

 cent with short spreading hairs. Lowest leaves stalked, obovate or oblong, 

 coarsely toothed, intermediate ones narrowed but stem-clasping at the base, 

 upper ones distant, lanceolate or ovate, all stem-clasping. Flower-heads not 

 numerous, in dense terminal corymbs or clusters. Involucral bracts narrow 

 and very pointed. Outer filiform florets very numerous, the slender corolla 

 not above half the length of the style, which attains the length of the pappus 

 and involucre. Disk-florets few. 



