350 COMPOSITE. Wi/ethia. 



petiole, or the uppermost with rounded or ahuost cordate base : involucre campauu- 

 late ; its scales 1 to 12, ovate-lanceolate or obluug-lauceolate, mostly herbaceous, 

 and longer than the disk-ilowers : rays 10 to 15 : akenes linear-prismatic (5 lines 

 long), miiuitely i)ubes(:cnt at sunuuit, crowned with a very short truncate chally cup 

 and 2 or in tlie ray 3 to 5 subulate awns. — Proc. Am. Acad. vi. 544. 



Sierra Nevada, from above the Yoseniito to Mono Lake, Mount Dana, Souoni Pass, &,c., and 

 adjacent parts of Nevada. Involucre about an inch long, conmionly very white-wouUy, some- 

 times, like the whole plant, glabra te. Said to grow in large patches. 



* * * Invulucre hroadly campaindate, of numerous loose scales : pappus 1 - Pawned. 



5. W. angustifolia, Nutt. Green and hirsute, at least the simple stems, a span 

 to 2 ieet higli : leaves elongated-lanceolate, acuminate at both ends, occasionally ser- 

 rulate ; the radical anil lower onus a si)an io a lout long ; the upper sessile, shorter 

 and uften broader : head naked : scales ol" the involucre numerous, broadly linear or 

 lanceulate ; most of them herl)aceuus or t'uliaceous, loose, ciliate with villous or hir- 

 sute hairs: akenes (3 lines lung) minutely pubescent at summit, bearing one or 

 two (or those of the iiiy 3 or 4) stout minutely hirsute awns, with some very short 

 intervening chalfy scales, more or less luiited at base (rarely awnless). — Alarconia 

 angustifuUa, 13C. Wi/dhla aiu/ustifolia & W. robustu, Nutt. in Trans. Am. l*hil. 

 Soc. vii. 352. Jlelianthus loinjifolius, Hook. II. J/ooLerianus, DC 



Plains and hillsides, from Mcniteroy east to the foot-hills an<l north to Oregon. A rather 

 common and variable spccitts. There are indications of an allied species in the foot-hills of Mari- 

 posa and Tuolumne Counties. 



W. HEi.lANTn()ii)E.s, Nutt., his original species, which is imperfectly known, but resembles IF. 

 anffuslifolia, with a more leafy stem, and 



W. AMPLKXiCAUi.is, Niitt., wluch is very smooth and glabrous, with upper leaves closely ses- 

 sile (both with commonly awnless pajipus), inhabit a region northeast of California, but have 

 not been found very near the borders of the State. Their thick roots or rootstocks are used for 

 food by the Indians, along with those of Balsaviorhiza. 



46. VERBESINA, Linn. 



Head many-flowered, heterogamous Avith fertile rays, or rarely by their abortion 

 homogamous ; the disk-Uowers perfect. Involucre of immerous or rather few scales. 

 Ileceptacle convex or conical ; the chaff embracing the akenes. Akenes flat (later- 

 ally much compressed) and wingevl on the margins, or those of the ray wingless. 

 Tajjpus of 2 awns, either free from or united with the wings. — Chielly lierbs; with 

 opp(Jsite or alternate leaves, and mostly yellow llowers ; natives of the warmer i)arts 

 of America : only the following reaches the borders of California. — Benth. & Hook. 

 Gen. ii. 379. 



1. V. encelioides, Benth. & Hook. Annual, more or less hoary-pubescent, or 

 sometimes smoothish and green : stem loosely branching, a foot or two high : leaves 

 triangular-ovate or somewhat cordate, or the upper nearly lanceolate, coarsely and 

 incisely serrate, and with iuteiTupted margined or winged petiole dilated at base 

 into a toothed or laciuiate foliaceous clasping auricle : heads large, corymbose : 

 scales of the hemispherical involucre loose ; the outer set linear-lanceolate and acu- 

 uiinate, foliaceous, fully equalling the ilattish disk : rays numerous, cuneate-oblong, 

 bright golden yellow, 3-lobed at summit : disk akenes surrounded by a broad 

 whitish and thickibh wing, which at the summit is little if at all exceeded by the 

 short and very sl(;nder awns of the pappus. — Xhuenesia encelioides, Cav. Ic. ii. GO, 

 t. 178; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 359. 



On the Piio Colorado, or at least tlirou^h that region all the way to Te.xas, and the northern 

 provinces of Mexico, now widely dilT'used over the wanner jiarts of the world, and not rare in 

 gardens. The wild plant along our borders is mostly a low and canescent form (var. cana), but 

 It becomes luxuriant and greener in moist and richer soil. 



