Filago.~\ LXXVIII. COMPOSITES. (J. D. Hooker.) 277 



Simple or branched from the base ; branches ascending 6-18 in., soft. Leaves few, 

 1-2 in. ; segments oblong, toothed. Clusters of heads -l in. long. 



35. FILAGO, Linn. 



Small woolly herbs. Leaves alternate. Heads small, sessile in crowded 

 terminal and axillary clusters which are often enclosed by floral leaves, hetero- 

 gamous, disciform ; outer fl. $, GO -seriate, fertile, filiform, 2- 3-toothed; disk- 

 n. , few, fertile or not ; limb scarcely dilated, 4-5-toothed. Invol. bracts 2- 

 oo -seriate, scarious, inner gradually passing into the pales, but shorter than 

 these ; receptacle cylindric, obconic or flat and constricted at the base ; pales 

 at the base of the outer of all the flowers, hyaline, concave. Anther-bases 

 sagittate ; auricles small, tails short slender. Style-arms of Q oblong or linear, 

 obtuse. Achenes minute, subterete or compressed, tip rounded, not ribbed ; 

 . pappus of inner $ and 1-2-seriate, slender, scabrid j of outer $ or scanty. 

 DISTBJB. Species about 8, natives of the old world. 



1. F. germanica, Linn.\ DC. Prodr. vi. 247; woolly all over, branched 

 from the base, branches dichotomous divaricating, leaves obovate-oblong apicu- 

 late, clusters of heads surrounded by leafy bracts longer than themselves, 

 invol. bracts erect in fruit acuminate outer awned. Clarke Comp. Ind. 99. 

 Gnaphalium hurdwaricum, Wall. Cat. 2951 ; DC. I. c. 231. 



Plains and Mts. of NORTH- WESTERN INDIA, from Cawnpore in the plains and 

 Kutnaon in the Himalaya westward to Affghanistan, ascending to 8000 ft. in TIBET. 

 DISTBIB. "Westwards to the Canaries. 



An erect or prostrate slender annual. Stems or branches 2-6 in., flexuous. 

 Clusters terminal in the forks of the branches, |- in. diam., shorter than the leafy 

 bracts ; heads 6-20, g- in, long, glistening, yellowish. The Indian specimens appear 

 mostly to belong to the prostrate form, F. spathulata, Presl (Boiss. FL Orient, iii. 

 246), including F. prostrata, Parlatore, with the leafy bracts longer than the clusters. 



2. F. arvensis, Linn. ; Boiss. Fl. Orient, iii. 247 ; woolly all over, 

 branched from the base, branches erect with erect divisions, leaves linear-lan- 

 ceolate erect, clusters of heads axillary and terminal surrounded by leafy bracts 

 shorter than themselves, invol. bracts spreading in fruit obtuse, outer with 

 scarious tips. Clarke Comp. Ind. 99, excl. syn. 



NORTH WEST INDIA, Falconer. WESTERN TIBET ; Iskardo and Dras, alt. 7-9000 ft., 

 Clarke. DISTRIB. Westward to the Canaries. 



There are two forms, one tall and stout, the other more slender and decumbent, 

 like F. germanica. It is not a common North Western plant, as supposed by Clarke, 

 who has confounded it with F. germanica in his " Compositse Indicae." 



36. IFX.OGA, Cass. 



Herbs or small shrubs. Leaves alternate, small or slender, often clustered. 

 Heads small, solitary or clustered, sessile, forming leafy spikes, heterogamous, 

 disciform ; outer fl. $ , l-oo -seriate, fertile, very slender, obscurely toothed ; 

 disk-fl. Q , sterile, limb 5-toothed. Invol. bracts few ; receptacle cylindric below 

 or slightly elevated, top flat naked, with an outer ring of scarious pales as long 

 as the bracts. Anther-bases sagittate, tails very slender. Achenes glabrous, of $ 

 fl. small, oblong, pappus ; of pappus hairs few, 1-seriate, feathery. DISTRIB. 

 Species 8, one Indian, the rest N. African. 



I. Fontanesii, Cass. in Diet. Sc. Nat. xxiii. 14 ; annual, branched from 

 the base, branches ascending densely leafy, leaves narrowly linear spreading 



