Wyetkia. COMPOSITJE. 



349 



more truncate and produced (at the angles) into 1 to 4 chaffy rigid awns.— Peren- 

 nial herbs ; with siini)le (rarely branching) stems from a stout root, rootstock, or 

 caudex, alternate mostly entire and ample leaves, and solitary or few and large or 

 middle-sized heads of yellow flowers. — Xutt. Jour. Acad. Philad. vii. 38, & Trans. 

 Am. Phil. Soc. I. c. 351 ; Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 654. Alarr^onia, DC. Prodr. 



A genus of several species, all natives of the region between tlie Eockv Mountains and the 

 Pacific; — dedu-at.Mll.v Xuttall tu r'aptaiii Wv.-th, with whom h,. :ittr,w;,i,U'.i,,-,..,| th.- continent 

 and by De Cand.iUr, tw, yrais lain-, t,, ilnnando de Alareon, a i,ul,l,. S|,,m,i-1, n , vi.ratur who lirst 

 (in 1540) visitedaud survryrd th.' roast of ( alitornia. It is to l,c .v-ivtt.-,| thai ilH-~.re„us c-innot 

 commemorate one of the earliest e.xploreis of the country : but the liamc may designate a section. 



§ 1. Ahenes thick, obtusely quadrangular, crowned with a conspicuous calyx-like pap- 

 pus of ovate or lanceolate coriaceous teeth more or less united at base into a 

 cup: heads very large and broad {the disk \\ to 2 inches in diameter); invo- 

 lucre open and leafy. — ALAR90NIA, Gray. 



1. W. helenioides, Nutt. Soft-tomentose, or Avith age becomin.T almost gla- 

 brous, a foot or two high : leaves oblong or oval ; radical ones a foot or more long, 

 4 to 6 inches wide ; cauline about half the size, all contracted at base into a short 

 petiole : heads mostly leafy at base : outer scales of the involucre ovate-lanceolate or 



ovate, sometimes toothed : akenes more or less pubescent at top when young. 



Gray, PI. Fendl. 82. Alarc^onia helenioides, DC. Melarhiza inuloides, Kellogg° 



Hillsides ; common near San Francisco and through the valley of the Sacramento. Akenes 

 half an inch and the pappus 2 or 3 lines long. Teeth of the corolla ovate-lanceolate, somewhat 

 hairy outside. 



2. W. glabra, Gray. Green and glabrous throughout, minutely resinous-glan- 

 dular or viscid : leaves otherwise as in the preceding, or more commonly toothed, 

 and the upper perhaps narrower : akenes and pappus glabrous, the lobes of the lat- 

 ter minutely ciliate. — Proc. Am. Acad. vi. 543. 



Hillf^ides, San Luis Obispo to Marin Co. (A specimen from Bolander's collection is said to 

 come fiom Mount Dana, at 12,000 feet ; but some error is to be suspected.) Heads nearly as 

 large and leafy as in W. hcJcnioidcs, the bracts or leafy involucral scales often surpassing the 

 rays. Disk-corolla with ovate wholly glabrous teeth. Foliage said to have a viscid exudation 

 of agreeable odor. 



§ 2. Akenes less thick, and ivith acute angles, at least those of the disk laterally com- 



pressed : heads less large. — True Wyethia. 



* Involucre hemispherical or broader : pappus short and aivnless. 



_ 3. W, ovata, Gray. Tomentose with soft pubescence : stem 2 feet or more 



high (ajiparently from running rootstocks), leafy, occasionally branching : leaves 



broadly ovate or the larger somewhat cordate, acute or acuminate, 3 to 6 inches 



long, all petioled: involucre an inch in diameter; its scales broadly lanceolate, 



seldom equalling the disk-flowers, mostly with a coriaceous erect base and more 



or less spreading acuminate herbaceous summit : akenes linear-oblong (about 4 lines 



long), minutely pubescent, crowned with a pappus of 6 or 8 short and broad 



unequal chaffy teeth, all of them somewhat united at the base. — Proc. Am. Acad. 



vii. 357. 



Dry hillsides, Mariposa Co., irom the foot-hills to above the Yosemite, Bridges, Bolaiukr, &c. 

 Kays 10 to 24, about an inch long. 



% * Involucre narrow, of rather feiv erect scales: papj^us \-i-atvned. 



4. W. mollis, Gray. Tomentose with very soft white wool, which is partly 



deciduous with age : stems 2 or 3 feet high, often branching above and bearing 2 to 



4 racemose naked heads, rather leafy : leaves oblong or sometimes ovate, 3 to 9 



inches long, becoming rigid and prominently reticulated, coutracteil at base into the 



