oQQ COMPOSITE. Lessingia. 



§ 2. Limh of the corolla regularly 5-parted : branches of the style tipped with a 

 comjncuous slender suhidate and less hispid appendage. 

 4 L. virgata, Gray, 1. c Erect, 1 or 2 feet high, with virgate branches, 

 densely floccose-woolly, "becoming naked with age, but not glandular : cauline leaves 

 partly clasping, entire, oblong, or the lowest spatulate ; those of the branches very 

 short, appressed, concave, carinately one-nerved, somewhat sagittate, about the 

 length of the 5 - 7-flowered heads, which are solitary and sessile in then- axils, so as 

 to form a narrow interrupted bracteate spike : involucre cylindmceous, of rather few 

 and blunt appressed scales : pappus much shorter than the tube of the (probably 

 pale purple) corolla. 



Northern part of California, Dr. Fickering, Prof Neivhcrrij. Heads about 4 lines long. 

 5. L. leptoclada, Gray. Finely white-woolly : the erect slender .stem and fili- 

 form branches soon glabrous : lower cauline leaves spatulate and sparingly toothed ; 

 the upper lanceolate or linear and entire, closely sessile by a sagittate adnate base ; 

 the uppermost diminished into remote subulate bracts : heads terminating the very 

 slender and mostly naked paniculate branches, 5 - 20-flowered : involucre turbinate, 

 especially when many-flowered ; its scales many-ranked and the outer successively 

 shorter, all appressed and with acute gTeenish tips : corollas purple or sometimes 

 white, the pappus equalling their tube. — Proc. Am. Acad. vii. 351. 



Gravelly or sandy soil, near San Francisco (Crystal Springs, &c.), and throughout the foot-hills 

 and mountains in Mariposa Co., flowering July and August. Vaiies from 3 or 4 inches to a foot or 

 two in heif'ht, and exceedingly in the number of flowers in the head, from 18 or 20 m the var. 

 TYPiCA Gray 1 c to only five in the var. microcephala, in which the inflorescence is most 

 depauperate, while the var. tenuis is a reduced form, only 3 to 8 inches high. All are evidently 

 states of one species, — to which seemingly belongs a very branched small fonn coUected by Dr. 

 Horn in Owens Valley. 



14. HETEROTHECA, Cass. 



Head many-flowered, heterogamous ; the rays numerous and fertile. Involucre 

 hemispherical, of numerous narrow imbricated scales. Eeceptacle nearly flat, alve- 

 olate. Ligiiles narrow. Branches of the style tipped with a hispid appendage. 

 Akenes compressed ; those of the ray triangular, very obtuse at summit, thickened 

 and destitute of pappus ; those of the disk thinner and flatter, sUky-pubescent, with 

 a copious pappus of rusty or reddish capillary bristles nearly equalling the disk- 

 coroUas, and an outer set of very short chafi'y bristles. — Perennial or biennial hir- 

 sute or scabrous herbs, with alternate and mostly dentate leaves, and middle-sized 

 heads of yellow flowers terminating the branches. 



1 H. grandiflora, Xutt. A span to a foot high : the leaves as well as the 

 stem hirsute with long and rather soft spreading hairs ; lower ones oval, sparingly 

 toothed, contracted into a slender petiole ; upper ones small and narrow : heads 

 mostly solitary : involucre glandular but not hairy : appendages of the style short 

 and obtuse : short outer pappus copious. 



Near the coast, on sandy plains, from Monterey to San Diego. Heads not so large as those of 

 the Mexican H. inuloklcs. Akenes of the ray when young minutely pubescent, but becoming 

 glabrous. 



2. H. floribunda, Benth. Stem 2 feet or more in height, very leafy to the 

 top, hispid, also minutely glandular : leaves mostly with a fine and appressed pubes- 

 cence ; the lower ones ovate and wdth petiole auricled at base ; upper oblong and 

 closely sessile : heads numerous, corymbed or panicled, small : involucre glandular : 

 appendages of the style acute : short outer pappus copious. — Bot. Voy. Sulph. 24. 



Near the coast, from San Pedro southward, Einds, Coulter, Parry. Heads less than half an 

 inch long : rays small. 



