SYNGENESIA. JSqiTALIS. 133 



peduncles hirsute, nearly naked, 1 to 5-fiOwered; flosculi 

 about 20 in the same calix, scales smooth, obiong--oval, 

 obtuse, Ha.b. From North CaroUna to Florida; in open 

 swamps, common. L.tomentosa? Mich. Flor. Am. 2. p. 

 93. but it by no means accords with his description or 

 name — Root perennial, fibrous, fibres thick. Stem about 

 2 feet high, terete, more or less hirsute and simple, sum- 

 mit somewhat attenuated, corymbiferous. Leaves nearly 

 smooth, or somewhat pubescent, cauline about an inch 

 lonjj, diminishing upwards. Peduncles partly filiform, 2 

 to 3 inches long". Calix large and hemisphericu'; scales 

 smooth, about 3 series, membranaceously marginated. 

 Florets pale purple. 



18. heUidifolia. Low and nearl}' smooth; stems aggrega- 

 ted; radical leaves spathulate-lanceolate, obtuse, 5-nerved, 

 cuuline sublinear; stem paniculately branched, branches 

 subfastigiate, 1 to 5-flowered; cah.x smooth and hemisphe- 

 rical, contaming about 20 fiorets, scales oblong, obtuse, 

 ihe lower ones loose and partly spreading. Hab. \bun- 

 dant on the sand-liills of Wilmington, North Carolina, <^c. 

 — Root tubercular, sending out long and tinck, simple 

 fibres. Stems about 12 inches high, many grovvmg up 

 jrom the same root; branches commencing aboutthe mid- 

 dle, sometimes lower, each about a span long, but often 

 shorter. Scales of the calix foliaceous. Flowers purple. 

 Pappus in this and the preceding scarcely appearing plu- 

 mose, without being examined through a lens; seed dis- 

 tinctly stipitate at the base. 



A North American genus. The tuberous rooted spe- 

 cies I'ank amongst the numerous, real or pretended re- 

 medies administered for the bite of the Rattle-snake. To 

 tliC taste and smell the roots appear impregnated with 

 turpentine, and the species are for tliis reason called "Pi- 

 netie de Prairie" by the Canadian boatmen. It is also 

 probably from the same cause that L. spicata proves diu- 

 retic 



540. VERNONIA. Schreber, 



Calix ovate imbricate. Stigma bifid. Beccp- 

 fade naked. Pappus double; exterior short 

 and paleaceous, interior capillary. 



Herbaceous or shrubby; leaves simple, frequently sca- 

 brous, serrated or entire on the margin; flowers terminal, 

 corymbose, rarely spike.l, with the fiuwers s< cunl. gene- 

 rally nurule. (Seed subcylmdric, shortly siipif.ate ai the 

 base, I j-siriate, striatures smooth, or minutely strigose; 



Vol. II. M 



