346 COMPOSITE. Franseria. 



Southeastern borders of the State : eastern slope of Providence Mountains^ Cooper. On the 

 Colorado, Newberry. Fruiting involucre in the specimeus examined one-celled and one-seeded. 



§ 2. Ftrtile involucre mostly 2-celled and %flowered, small, armed toith short and 

 stout incu7'ved hook-tipped spines : leaves dissected. 



8. F. tenuifolia, Gray. Herbaceous, apparently perennial : stem erect, 1 to 3 

 feet liigli, hirsute : leaves twice or thrice pinnatitid or dissected, strigoselj^ pubescent 

 or hirsute, or sometimes even canescent beneath ; the ultimate divisions linear ; 

 small lobes often interposed on the rhachis : sterile spikes simple and elongated or 

 paniculate : fertile involucres glomerate, at nuiturity only one or two lines long, 

 ovoid or globular, minutely pubescent : its short and stout subulate sjjines more or 

 less incurved and with uncinate tips. — PL Fendl. 80 ; PL Wright., &c. 



Southeastern borders of the State, thence eastward to the Gulf of Mexico : also in the Sand- 

 wich Islands, and in Lower California, Cape Sau Lucas, Xantus. Doubtless it is also F. hisjiida, 

 Beuth. Bot. Sulph. (although that is said to have sometimes four flowers in the involucre) : but 

 the present name wUl still hold, as Ambrosia tenuifolia, Spreng., is, it appears, the very same 

 species. 



§ 3. Fertile involucre 2 - i-celled, 2 - i-Jlowered, thicJcly beset {like Xanthium) tvith 

 slender and rather soft hook-tipped j^rickles. 



9. F. ambrosioides, Cav. TaU, 4 to 6 feet high, with a woody base, hirsute- 

 pubescent : leaves oblong-lanceolate "vvith mostly truncate or cordate base, acuminate, 

 unequally toothed, 3 to 5 inches long, the petiole sometimes wing-appendaged at 

 base : sterile raceme rather loose : fruiting involucre lialf an inch long, minutely 

 hispid. 



Occurs near the southeastern and the southern frontiers of the State, and probably within its 

 limits. Not rare in Mexico. 



42. XANTHIUM, Tourn. Cocklebur, Clotbur. 



Heads homogamous and unisexual, monoecious, in axillary or terminal clusters 

 or short interrupted spikes ; the pistiUate 2-flowered and underneath the several- 

 flowered staminate. Staminate flowers as in Ambrosia, except that the involucre is 

 of several distinct and narrow scales, and the receptacle more or less elevated, its 

 chaff broader. Pistillate flowers enclosed in a bur-like ovoid or oblong closed 

 indurated involucre, M'hich is 2-celled, 2-flowered, and armed all over Avith strong- 

 ly hook-tipped prickles : corolla none. Akenes obovoid, thick : pappus none. — 

 Coarse and vile annual weeds, with alternate petioled leaves ; the three or four 

 species perhaps all natives of America, but now widely dispersed over the world ; 

 probably none indigenous to California. 



1. X. Strumarium, Linn. Stems a foot or two high, not prickly : leaves del- 

 toid-ovate orsianewhat cordate, irregularly serrate, often slightly incised, rough and 

 green both sides, on long petioles : fruiting involucre over half an inch long, thick, 

 tipped with a pair of strong beaks, pubescent or sometimes hispid between and on 

 the lower part of the crowded prickles. 



Waste ground near dwellings, &c. ; also on the sea-coast. The common Cocklebur, apparently 

 less comnion than at the east"; but both the ordinary form occurs and var. echinatiivi, Torr. & 

 Gray, with tliirker nnd glandular-hispid involucre. 



2. X. spinosum, Linn. Hoary-pubescent : stems much branched, bearing long 

 and yellowish tviiAe spines by the side of the leaves : these lanceolate or ovate- 

 lanceolate, canescent beneath, often 2 - 3-lobed or cut, tapering into a short petiole : 

 fruiting involucre narrow, half an inch or less long, more sparsely prickly, the beak 

 inconspicuous. 



Sea-coast, San Juan, ic. ; also in the foot-hills, Calaveras Co. : introduced from Chili. 



