PINCUSHION (Chamdctis glabritisda, DC.). Flower heads 

 golden yellow throughout, the corollas of the marginal flor- 

 ets with an enlarged throat and fan-like limb (the latter divided 

 into 5 fingers) thus creating the effect of rays about the disk; 

 heads about f inch high, solitary at the tips of stout, naked 

 peduncles. Leaves thickish, once to twice divided into a 

 few very narrow lobes. An herbaceous, branching annual, 

 6 inches to 1^ feet high, common in sandy soil and rocky 

 ground, throughout Central and Southern California, from the 

 coast to the mountains and borders of the desert blooming 

 from April till June. 



The trig, roundish-topped heads of this charming flower, 

 abundant in spring by waysides and on hills, are quite sug- 

 gestive of the common name Pincushion especially when 

 studded with the protruding stamens and pistils. The species 

 is exceedingly variable, and 4 or 5 varieties are described in 

 the books. Variety tenuifolia has almost threadlike divisions 

 to the leaves, and the marginal corollas have the limb so little 

 developed as to be hardly noticeable the head appearing 

 all disk. Variety lanosa is rarely a foot high, leafy only at the 

 base and the herbage whitish with woolliness. 



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