COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 287 



62. AC TIN EL LA, Pers., Nutt. 



Heads many-flowered; rays several, wedge-oblong, 3-toothed, pistillate. 

 Scales of the hemispherical involucre ovate or lanceolate, membranaceous or 

 coriaceous, nearly equal, appressed in 2 or 3 ranks, little shorter than the disk. 

 Receptacle hemispherical or conical, naked. Achenes top-shaped, densely 

 silky-villous ; pappus of 5 or more ovate or lanceolate very thin chaffy scales. 



Low herbs, with narrow alternate leaves, dotted or sprinkled with resinous 

 atoms as in the next genus and bitter-aromatic ; the solitary heads terminating 

 scapes or slender naked peduncles; flowers yellow. (Name a diminutive 

 of Actinea, from CLKTIS, ray.) 



# Involucre of numerous distinct not rigid scales ; leaves entire. 



1. A. linearifblia, Torr. & Gray. Annual or biennial, villous or gla- 

 brate, 1 high or less, simple or branched; leaves linear; peduncles filiform. 



S. Kan. to La., and Tex. 



2. A. acaulis, Nutt. Perennial, densely cespitose, the branches of the 

 caudex short and thick, with scape-like peduncles, canescently villous or silky ; 

 leaves spatulate to linear, short. Hills and plains bordering the Rocky Mts. 

 and scarcely reaching our limits; the var. GLABRA, Gray (A. scaposa, var. gla- 

 bra, Man.), a greener glabrate form, has been found on an Indian mound near 

 Joliet, 111. The less densely cespitose A. SCAP6SA, Nutt., more loosely villous 

 and the caudex with more slender branches, is probably in S. Kan. 



* * Scales rigid, in 2 rows, the outer connate at base ; leaves ternately parted. 



3. A. odorata, Gray. Annual, 1-2 high, branching, leafy, somewhat 

 floccose-woolly ; heads small, scattered ; leaves 1 - 3-pinnately divided, the lobes 

 filiform. Central Kan. to Tex., and westward. 



63. HELENIUM, L. SNEEZE-WEED. 



Heads many-flowered, radiate ; rays several, wedge-shaped, 3 - 5-cleft, fertile 

 or rarely sterile. Involucre small, reflexed, the scales linear or awl-shaped. 

 Receptacle globose or oblong, naked. Achenes top-shaped, ribbed ; pappus of 

 5-8 thin and 1 -nerved chaffy scales, the nerve usually extended into a bristle 

 or point. Erect, branching herbs (ours perennial), with alternate leaves de- 

 current on the angled stem and branches, which are terminated by single or 

 corymbed (yellow, rarely purple) heads ; often sprinkled with bitter aromatic 

 resinous globules. (The Greek name of some plant, said to be named after 

 Helenus, son of Priam.) 



1. H. nudifldrum, Nutt. Somewhat puberulent, 1-3 high; leaves 

 narrowly lanceolate or oblong to linear, entire, or the radical spatulate and den- 

 tate ; heads mostly small ; disk brownish, globose ; ray yellow or partly brown- 

 purple, sterile (neutral or style abortive), shorter than or exceeding the disk. 

 (Leptopoda brachypoda, Torr. fr Gray.) 111. and Mo. to N. Car. and Tex. ; 

 nat. near Philadelphia. Hybridizes with the next. June- Aug. 



2. H. autumnale, L. Nearly smooth, 1-6 high ; leaves mostly toothed, 

 lanceolate to ovate-oblong ; heads larger (about 6" broad) ; disk yellow ; ray 

 fertile, yellow. Alluvial river-banks and wet ground, Conn, to Minn., south 

 and westward. Sept. 



