Helianthus. COMPOSITE. 353 



Branches of the style tipped with a subulate hispid appendage. Akenes thick, 

 commonly obovate-oblong, either 4-angled or somewhat lenticular, laterally more or 

 less compressed, the edges obtuse as well as marginless. Pappus caducous, of 2 

 chaffy awns or pointed scales, one from each principal angle of the akene, sometimes 

 with two or more very small and thin intermediate scales, which are equally cadu- 

 cous. Coarse annuals or perennials, with entire or merely toothed leaves, at least 

 the lower ones mostly opposite, and solitary or somewhat corymbose heads, of large 

 or middle size. Rays yellow : disk yellow, brownish, or sometimes dark purple. 



A genus of nearly threescore species, all American and chiefly temperate North American, 

 most of them in the Atlantic United States, very few in California. 



* Annuals, with leaves ^-ribbed at base, all but the lowest usually alternate : receptacle 

 flat : disk broivnish or dark purplish. 



1. H. animus, Linn. Large, hispid and rough : leaves deltoid-ovate and the 

 lower more or less cordate, acuminate, 3 to 7 inches long, all petioled : scales of the 

 involucre ovate or ovate-lanceolate, abruptly slender-acuminate : chaff of the recep- 

 tacle shorter than the flowers : akenes in the wild plants appressed silky-pubescent, 

 2^ to 4 lines long: pappus of 2 chaffy scales. -The wild plant, with peduncles 

 moderately if at all thickened, receptacle an inch or so in diameter, and even the 

 lower leaves not much cordate, is H. lenticularis, Dougl. in Bot. Reg. t. 1265. 



Banks of streams, and open places, in the eastern and southern part of the State, more common 

 in Nevada, and thence to Nebraska and Texas. Seeds used for food by the Indians. In all prob- 

 ability this wild sunflower of the plains is the original of the long- cultivated H. anmms. A 

 specimen from Fort Tejon, by Xantus, would be referred to that species. 



2. H. petiolaris, Nutt. Slender, about 2 feet high, branching : leaves from ovate 

 to ovate-lanceolate, commonly almost entire, contracted at base into long and slender 

 petioles : head rather small : acuminate tip of the chaff of the receptacle not longer 

 than the flowers : akenes more or less appressed-pubescent. 



Occurs sparingly in the eastern and southern parts of the State and Nevada : common in Utah and 

 eastward almost to the Mississippi. Seemingly passes into depauperate forms of the preceding. 



3. H. Bolanderi, Gray. Stern hirsute, branching, 2 feet or more high : leaves 

 ovate-lanceolate or the lower rhomboid-ovate, acute or acuminate, very sharply and 

 coarsely serrate, on slender petioles : heads somewhat panicled, short-peduncled : 

 involucre loosely hirsute ; its scales linear-lanceolate, attenuate-acuminate, loose, folia- 

 ceous, longer than the disk, mostly equalling the 10 or 12 rays : chaff of the receptacle 

 entire or nearly so, tipped with an awn exceeding the dark-purple corollas : akenes 

 silky-pubescent : pappus of 2 subulate chaffy awns. Proc. Am. Acad. vi. 544. 



Lake County, at the Geysers, Bolandcr. Also collected by Bridges, but habitat unknown. 

 Heads small. Leaves 3 to 5 inches long, on petioles of about half their length. 



4. H. exilis, Gray, 1. c. More or less hirsute : stems slender, branching, a foot 

 high : leaves linear-oblong or lanceolate, nearly entire, obscurely 3-nerved at base, 

 tapering into a short petiole : heads very small, on slender sometimes leafy-bracted 

 peduncles : scales of the involucre nearly as in the preceding : rays 5 to 8 : chaff of 

 the receptacle produced into an awn-like cusp which equals the dark-purple corollas : 

 akenes nearly glabrous : pappus of 2 ovate-lanceolate chaffy scales. 



Wet places around Clear Lake, Bolandcr. Long Valley, Mendocino Co., a larger form, one or 

 two feet high, Kellogg. Heads 4 to 6 lines high. A form, probably of this species, with even 

 the upper leaves mostly opposite, scales of the involucre broader and erect, and the long hirsute 

 hairs mostly wanting, was collected in Owens Valley by Dr. Horn. 



* % Perennials : receptacle convex : disk dull yellow. 



5. H. Calif ornicus, DC. Stem glabrous, rather slender, 2 to 5 feet high, 

 simple or branching : leaves alternate or some of them opposite, minutely scabrous- 



