COMPOSITE. (COMPOSITE FAMILY.) 253 



Wet river-banks, Pennsylvania to Illinois, and southward. June - Oct. All 

 belong to a wide-spread and variable species of the warmer regions, the oldest 

 specific name of which is E. ALBA. 



34. BORRiCHIA, Adans. SEA OX-EYE. 



Heads many-flowered, radiate ; the rays fertile. Scales of the hemispherical 

 involucre imbricated. Receptacle flat, covered with lanceolate rigid and per- 

 sistent chaff. Achenia somewhat wedge-shaped, 3- 4-angled. Pappus a short 

 4-toothed crown. Shrubby low maritime plants, coriaceous or fleshy, with 

 opposite nearly entire leaves, and solitary peduncled terminal heads of yellow 

 flowers : anthers blackish. (Named for Olof Borrich, a Danish botanist.) 



1. B. frut^scens, DC. Whitened with a minute silky pubescence (6'- 

 12' high) ; leaves spatulate-oblong or lanceolate, often toothed near the base; 

 chaff rigidly pointed. Virginia and southward. 



35. HELIOPSIS, Pers. OX-EYE. 



Heads many-flowered, radiate; the rays 10 or more, fertile. Scales of the 

 involucre in 2 or 3 rows ; the outer leaf-like and somewhat spreading, the inner 

 shorter than the disk. Receptacle conical : chaff linear. Achenia smooth, 4- 

 angular. Pappus none, or a mere border. Perennial herbs, like Helianthus. 

 Heads showy, peduncled, terminating the stem or branches. Leaves opposite, 

 petioled, triple-ribbed, serrate. Flowers yellow. (Name composed of ^Xtos, the 

 sun, and etyas, appearance, from the likeness to the Sunflower.) 



1. H. laevis, Pers. Nearly smooth (l-4 high) ; leaves ovate-lanceolate 

 or oblong-ovate. Var. SCABRA has roughish foliage, and the involucre some- 

 what hoary. Banks and copses : common. Aug. 



36. ECHINACEA, Moench. PURPLE CONE-FLOWER. 



Heads many-flowered, radiate ; the rays very long, drooping, pistillate but 

 sterile. Scales of the involucre imbricated, lanceolate, spreading. Receptacle 

 conical ; the lanceolate spiny-tipped chaff longer than the disk-flowers. Ache- 

 nia thick and short, 4-sided. Pappus a small toothed border. Perennial herbs, 

 with the stout and nearly simple stems naked above and terminated by a single 

 large head ; the leaves chiefly alternate, 3 - 5-nerved. Rays rose-purple, rather 

 persistent : disk 'purplish. (Name formed from 'E^ti/oy, the Hedgehog, or Sea- 

 urchin, in allusion to the spiny chaff of the disk.) 



1. E. purptirea, Moench. Leaves rough, often serrate ; the lowest ovafe, 

 5-nerved, veiny, long-petioled ; the others ovate-lanceolate ; involucre imbricated 

 in 3-5 rows ; stem smooth, or in one variety (E. serdtina, DC.) rough-bristly, 

 as well as the leaves. Prairies and banks, from W. Penn. and Ohio southward 

 and westward. July. Rays 15-20, dull purple (rarely whitish), l'-2' long. 

 Root thick, black, very pungent to the taste, used in popular medicine under 

 the name of Black Sampson. Probably varies into 



2. E. angUStif61ia, DC. Leaves, as well as the slender simple stem, 

 bristly-hairy, lanceolate and linear-lanceolate, 3-nerved, entire ; involucre less imbri- 

 cated ; rays 12-15 (2' long), rose-color or red. Plains from Illinois and Wis- 

 consin southwestrward. June -Aug. 



