ASTERACE;E. 



94-9. Doronicum Pardalianches Linn, is reported to be a poi- 

 sonous plant. 



CALENDULA. 



Heads many-flowered. Florets of the ray ligulate, ? ; of the 

 disk tubular and $ ; the corolla of all hispid at the base. Involucre 

 in few rows, with distinct scales. Receptacle naked, flat. An- 

 thers caudate, subulate, short. Style ending in a knotty hispid 

 cone, bifid at the point ; of the ray short, with 2 long slender 

 stigmas, smooth below, glandular above. Ovary arcuate, fertile. 

 Achaenia produced by the ligulate florets, all without pappus, 

 usually arranged in 2 or 3 rows ; the outer more or less rostrate ; 

 the intermediate truncate at the apex, prickly at the back, more 

 or less curved, with their sides extended into an entire concave 

 or flat incised membrane ; the innermost annular or incurved, 

 muricated at the back, all (especially the innermost) fertile. 

 DC. 



950. C. officinalis Linn. sp. pi. 1304. Bot. Mag. t. 3204. 

 DC. prodr. vi. 451. Fields in the South of Europe. 



Root annual, fibrous. Stem about a foot high, with many patent, 

 dichotomous, or sometimes trichotomous branches, striated, green, suc- 

 culent, hispido-pubescent. Leaves oblong, acute, somewhat succulent, 

 broad, and a little cordate at the base, the margins quite entire, often, 

 as well as here and there upon the surface, hispid with short hairs. 

 Flower-heads large, terminal, solitary upon each branch, of a rich, full 

 golden yellow, deeper and brighter previous to their full expansion. 

 Involucre of many nearly equal, appressed, linear-subulate, pilose- 

 hispid leaves or scales, not so long as the radiant florets, the apices 

 a little recurved. Corollas of the ray ligulate, female tridentate, broadly 

 linear, the lower tubular portion hairy. Ovary singularly boat-shaped, 

 curved like a horse-shoe, large, green, downy within, having a thickened 

 margin, more or less tuberculated on the back. Florets of the centre 

 all tubular, small, male, and consequently sterile; the mouth 5-cleft, 

 base hairy. Abortive ovaries cylindrical, downy, green. Receptacle 

 dotted. The heads of fruit have a singular appearance : the centre or 

 disk is occupied by the closely packed, abortive pistils, and is surrounded 

 by the numerous, large achaenia, which constitute the circumference, 

 and are cymbiform, with abroad, thickened margin, singularly incurved, 

 within at the base having an elevated lamella, the back furnished with a 

 tuberculated ridge ; the inner of these achaenia are more narrow, and 

 have less margin. Hooker. It was formerly much employed as a car- 

 minative; it is chiefly used now to adulterate saffron. 



466 



