430 



COM POSIT AE. 



[Vol. III. 



2. Verbesina occidentalis 



(L.) Walt. Small Yellow Crownbeard. 

 (Fig. 392i- ) 



Siegesbeckia occidentalis L. Sp. PI. 900. 1753. 

 Verbesina occidentalis Walt. Fl. Car. 213. 1788. 

 V. Siegesbeckia Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 134. 1803. 



Perennial; stem glabrous, or puberulent above,, 

 usually much branched, narrowly 4-winged, 3 - 

 7 high, the branches also winged and pubes- 

 cent. Leaves thin, ovate, or the upper oblong, 

 opposite, minutely rough pubescent on both 

 sides, or glabrate, acuminate at the apex, nar- 

 rowed or contracted below into slender margined 

 or naked petioles, serrate, 4 / -io / long, i / -'i% r 

 wide; heads numerous, 6 // -i2 // broad, corym- 

 bose at the ends of the stem and branches; in- 

 volucre oblong-campanulate, 2"-$" broad, its 

 bracts lanceolate, obtuse, erect, or the tips 

 slightly spreading, pubescent; rays 1-5, yellow, 

 usually pistillate, rarely none; achenes wingless; 

 pappus of 2 slender, at length divergent awns. 



In dry thickets and on hillsides, Maryland and 

 southern Pennsylvania to Illinois, south to Florida 

 and Georgia. Aug. -Oct. 



3. Verbesina helianthoides Michx. 

 Sunflower Crownbeard. (Fig. 3922.) 



Verbesina helianthoides Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 135. 



1803. 

 Actinomeris helianthoides Nutt. Gen. 2: 181. 1818. 



Perennial; stem hispid or hirsute, 4-winged, usu- 

 ally simple, 2-4 high. Leaves ovate or oval, ses- 

 sile, acute, acuminate or obtuse at the apex, nar- 

 rowed at the base, serrate or serrulate, rough or 

 appressed-hispid above, densely pubescent or ca- 

 nescent beneath, i'-/\,' long, \'-\% f wide, all alter- 

 nate, or the lower opposite; heads solitary or few, 

 2 / -3 / broad; involucre hemispheric, about %' high, 

 its bracts lanceolate, acutish, canescent, appressed ; 

 rays 8-15, pistillate or neutral, linear-oblong, yel- 

 low; achenes scabrous or pubescent, broadly 

 winged; pappus of 2 subulate awns. 



On dry prairies and in thickets, Ohio to Georgia, 

 west to Iowa, Missouri and Texas. June-July. 



4. Verbesina encelioides (Cav.) A. 

 Gray. Golden Crownbeard. (Fig. 3923.) 



Ximenesia encelioides Cav. Icon. 2: 60. pi. 178. 1793. 

 V. encelioides A. Gray, Syn. Fl. 1: Part 2, 288. 1884. 



Annual; stem densely puberulent, much branch- 

 ed, 1 -2 high. Leaves deltoid-ovate or deltoid-lan- 

 ceolate, thin,2 / -4 / long, acuminate, acute or blunt 

 at the apex, coarsely dentate, or even laciniate, 

 green and minutely pubescent above, pale and 

 densely canescent beneath, all alternate, or the low- 

 est opposite, narrowed at the base into naked or 

 wing-margined petioles, which are often provided 

 with dilated appendages at the base; heads several 

 or numerous, i / -2 / broad; involucre hemispheric, 

 about y z ' high, its bracts lanceolate, canescent; rays 

 12-15, bright golden yellow, 3-toothed; achenes of 

 the disk-flowers obovate, winged, pubescent, their 

 pappus of 2 subulate awns; those of the ray-flowers 

 rugose, thickened, often wingless. 



In moist soil, Kansas to Texas, Arizona and Mexico. 

 Also in Florida and widely distributed in warm regions- 

 as a weed. Summer. 



