416 LXXVIII. COMPOSITE. (J. D. Hooker.) [Launcea. 



(with some hesitation, and against Mr. Clarke's opinion), because. the achenes are not 

 at all contracted at either end, and appear to me to differ from those of any Indian 

 Crepis. The habit is very close to that of small forms of Crepis japonica, but the 

 achenes are entirely different. 



ft Heads more or less racemose on the flowering stem or its branches. 



4. Xi. secunda, Clarke Comp. Ind. 27 '(Microrhynchus), excl. st/n.j gla- 

 brous or sparsely hispid, radical leaves sessile runcinate- or lyrate-pinnatifid 

 lobes rounded irregularly lobulate and sharply toothed, cauline or very few, 

 flowering steins subsolitary tall strict simple or sparingly forked, heads ^ in. 

 long narrow in subsessile racemed subsecund clusters, invol. bracts with white 

 membranous margins, outer small ovate inner linear midrib much thickened in 

 fruit, achenes columnar angled and strongly ribbed as long as the very soft 

 white pappus. Ohondrilla secunda, Royle mss. 



WESTEHN HIMALAYA; from Hazara to Kumaon, alt. 4-8000 ft., Royle, &c. 



Annual? Radical leaves 4-8 by 1-2 in. obovate or elongate- obovate, with many 

 lobes, coriaceous. Flowering stems 1-3 ft., terete, strict; branches erect, racemose, 1 

 foot and under, quite erect. Invol. bracts with scarious white edges, hard and con- 

 nivent in fruit with soft green tips overtopping the pappus, midrib much thickened. 

 Achenes | in., pale, smooth, many ribbed, slightly thicker in the middle ; pappus 

 excessively soft, with a few rigid rather longer hairs. 



5. Xi. nudicaulis, Less. Synops. 139 (Microrhynchus) ; glabrous, leaves 

 sinuate-lobed pinnatifid or runcinate lobes irregularly lobulate and sharply 

 toothed teeth often white and cartilaginous, flowering steins decumbent or 

 spreading irregularly branched, heads |- in. long narrow sessile solitary or 

 clustered subracemose and terminal, invol. bracts with white membranous mar- 

 gins, outer very short ovate, inner long linear midrib thickened in fruit, acheues 

 columnar very thickly ribbed outer compressed, much shorter than the soft 

 straight white pappus. Microrhynchus nudicaulis, Less. ; DC. Prodi: vii. 180. 

 M. fallax, Jaub. $ Spvch III. PI. 'Orient, t. 276. Zollikoferia nudicaulis, Boiss, 

 Fl. Orient, iii. 824. Chondrilla nudicaulis, Linn. Mant. 273. Lactuca nudi- 

 caulis, Murray. L. obtusa, Clarke Comp. Ind. 261. Prenanthes patens and 

 P. dichotoma, Wall. Cat. 3258, 3275, F. P. obtusa,- -Hewn, in Wall. Cat. 3276. 

 P. procumbens, Eoxb. FL Ind. iii. 405. Brachyramphus obtusus, DC. Prodi: 

 vii. 177 ; Deless. Ic. Sel. iv. t. 96. 



Plains of INDIA ; from Bengal and Behar to the Punjab, ascending the WESTERN 

 HIMALAYA to 8000 ft. in Kumaon. SCINDU and the DECCAN. DISTEIB. Affghanistau 

 and westwards to the Atlantic. 



Hoot perennial? with yellow juice. Leaves 2-10 by. 1-3 in., usually sessile. 

 Flowering stems usually very numerous, 6-24 in. long, spreading on all sides, stout 

 or slender, simple or branched. Heads sometimes 6-10 in a cluster; invol. bracts 

 overtopping the pappus. Achenes ~ in., very pale, polymorphous, inner sometimes as 

 if composed of 4 thick ribs, outer slightly curved and flattened with a thick ventral 

 and several thick dorsal ribs, all smooth or obscurely uneven ; pappus ^-^ in., very 

 deciduous, hairs very straight soft and of nearly equal length. 



tft Heads solitary or fascicled at the nodes of the Jlagelliform root ing flower- 

 ing stem. 



6. Xi. pinnatifida, Cass. in Ann. Sc. Nat. xxiii. 85 ; glabrous, leaves 

 runcinate-pinnatifid or sinuate-toothed or lobed, flowering stems procumbent 

 long flagelliforna rooting and leafing at the nodes, heads at the nodes solitary or 

 clustered ^ in. long usually with bracteate peduncles, invol. bracts with white 

 membranous margins, outer short, intermediate longer, inner linear midrib at 

 the base hardening in fruit, achenes columnar very thickly ribbed much shorter 

 than the soft straight white pappus. Microrhynchus sarmentosus, DC. Prodi: 



