COMPOSITE. (C0MPO.SITK FAMILY.) 287 



62. AC TIN ELL A, Pers, Xutt. 



Heads many-flowererl ; rays several, we(ln;e-olilon<^, 3-toothed, pistillate. 

 Scales of the hcinisplierieal invulucre ovate or lanceolate, meiuliraiiaceous or 

 coriaceous, nearly eciual, appressed in 2 or 3 ranks, littk; shorter than the disk. 

 Receptacle heniisj)herical or conical, naked. Achenes top-shapf'<l, dfiisclv 

 silky-villous; pappus of ."i or more ovate or lanceolate very tliin chaffy scales. 



— Low herbs, with narrow alternate leaves, dotted or sprinkled with resinous 

 atoms as in the ne.xt genus and hitter-aromatic; the solitary heads terminating 

 scapes or slender naked peduncles; flowers yellow. (Name a diminutive 

 of Actinea, from olktis, >'(ii/-) 



* Involucre of numerous distinct not rigid scales; leaves entire. 



1. A. Iinearif61ia, Torr. & Gray. Annual or biennial, villous or gla- 

 brate, 1° high or less, simple or branched; leaves linear; peduncles filiform. 



— S. Kan. to La., and Tex. 



2. A. acatllis, Nutt. I'erenuial, densely ccspitose, the branches of the 

 caudex short and thick, with scape-like peduncles, canescently villous or silky ; 

 leaves spatulate to linear, short. — Hills and plains bordering the Hocky Mts. 

 and scarcely reaching our limits; the var. giAbra, Gray (A. scaposa, var. gla- 

 bra, Man.), a greener glabrate form, has been found on an Indian mound near 

 Joliet, 111. The less densely cespitose A. scAr6sA, Nutt., more loosely villous 

 and the caudex with more slender branches, is probaldy in S. Kan, 



* * Scales rigid, in 2 rows, the outer connate at base ; leaves ternately parted, 



3. A. odorata, Gray. Annual, 1-2° high, branching, leafy, somewhat 

 floccose-woolly ; heads small, scattered ; leaves 1 -3-piuuately divided, the lobes 

 filiform. — Central Kan. to Tex., and westward. 



63. HELENIUM, L. Sneeze-weed. 



Heads many-flowered, radiate ; ray? several, wedge shaped, 3 - 5-(left, fertile 

 or rarely sterile. Involucre small, rettexed, the scales linear or awl-shaped. 

 Receptacle globose or oblong, naked. Achenes top-shaped, ribbed ; pappus of 

 5-8 thin and 1-nerved chaffy scales, the nerve usually extended into a bristle 

 or point. — Erect, branching herbs (ours perennial), with alternate leaves de- 

 current on the angled stem and branches, which are terminated by single or 

 corymbed (yellow, rarely purple) heads; often sprinkled with l)itter aromatic 

 resinous globules. (The Greek name of some plant, said to be named after 

 Ilelenus, son of Priam.) 



1. H. nudifl6rum, Nutt. Somewhat ])ubcrulent, 1-3° high; leaves 

 narrowly lanceolate or oblong to linear, entire, or the radical spatulate and den- 

 tate ; heads mostly small ; disk brownish, globo.se ; ray yellow or partly brown- 

 purple, sterile (neutral or style abortive), shorter than or exceeding the disk. 

 (Leptopoda brachypoda, Torr. <^- Cj-ai/.) — 111. and Mo. to N. Car. and Tex.; 

 nat. near Pliiladelphia. Hybridizes with the next. June -Aug. 



2. H. autumnale, L. Nearly smooth, 1 -G*^ high ; leaves mostly toothed, 

 lanceolate to ovate-oblong ; heads larger (about 6" broad); disk yellow; ray 

 fertile, yellow. — Alluvial river-banks and wet ground, Conn, to Minn., south 

 and westward. Sept. 



