1907] Hall. Compositae of Southern California. 117 



36. OXYTENIA Nutt. 



Shrubby perennial with erect branches. Leaves alternate, 

 3 to 5-parted into filiform divisions, or the upper ones often 

 sparse and entire. Involucral bracts about 5, somewhat coria- 

 ceous, their tips rigidly acuminate. Bracts of the receptacle 

 slender, chaffy, with cuneate-dilated tips. Pistillate flowers about 

 5, destitute of corolla ; staminate flowers 10 to 20. Young achenes 

 obovate, very villous with long soft hairs, terminated by a large 

 areola. Pappus none or a mere vestige. 



1. 0. acerosa Nutt., PI. Gamb. 172 (1848). 



Stems canescent, half -woody, 1 to 2 m. high, sometimes leaf- 

 less and rush-like, sometimes covered with leaves 1.5 dm. or less 

 long : heads 4 mm. high, numerous, in dense panicles. 



Alkaline plains from eastern California and Arizona to Utah : 

 southeastern Inyo Co., ace. to Coville. I have seen no specimens 

 from this State. Flowers sometimes pleasingly fragrant with the 

 odor of lilacs, ace. to Miss Eastwood. 



37. DICORIA T. & G. 



Diffusely branched annuals of the Desert Area. Upper leaves 

 alternate. Inflorescence loosely paniculate. Involucral bracts 6 

 or 7, distinct; the 5 outer ones herbaceous; 1 or 2 of the inner 

 ones much larger, scarious and subtending the fertile flowers, or 

 these wanting in staminate heads. Receptacular bracts few, nar- 

 row. Pistillate flowers 1 or 2, destitute of corolla; staminate 

 flowers 6 to 12, their filaments almost free from the corolla and 

 monadelphous up to the lightly connected anthers. Achenes 

 surpassing the outer involucre, convex on the dorsal side, flat on 

 the anterior face, conspicuously margined with a scarious pecti- 

 nate border. Pappus of several small squamellae. 



1. D. canescens T. & G., Bot. Mex. Bound. 87, t. 30 (1859). 



Plant 3 to 10 dm. high : herbage canescent with a harsh 

 spreading pubescence, or this somewhat appressed: leaf-blades 

 1.5 to 3 cm. long, on evident petioles, ovate, obtuse, from sinuous- 

 dentate to laciniate, 3-nerved from the broad base; uppermost 



