Malacothrix. COMPOSIT.E. ^oo 



First collected by Coulter, probably in the southern part of the State. Sitgreaves Pass (Av-jt-- 

 berrij)-, Naciniiento Kiver and San Luis Obispo, JJrcwcr. A])parently on the Sacramento or San 

 Joaqum, Fitch, KcUogg. Involucre over half an inch in diameter, not unlike that of a Xerantlu:- 

 mum. Structure iu other respects wholly that of Malacolhri^. 



§ 2. Involucre of narrow and acute or acuminate scales, slightly if at all scarious, in 



2 or 3 serie.^. (Faj^^us presoit.) — Malacothrix proper. 



* Annuals: floivers light yellow, often turning jiurple. {Leptoseris, Xutt.) 



■k- Head large, solitary, terminating mostly simple naked scapes. 



2. M. Californica, DC. Loosely long-woolly when young, sometime.s nearly 

 glabrous with age : leaves mostly all in a radical tuft, laciniately pinnately parted 

 into very narrowly linear divisions : scapes ascending, a span to a foot high : scahis 

 of the broad involucre linear-subulate, loosely imbricated : akenes narrow, minutely 

 and obtusely striate-ribbed (acutish and with a minute callus at the base) : outer 

 pappus of 2 persistent bristles, between the bases of which are several very minute 

 pointed teeth. 



Yar. glabrata, Eaton in Bot. King Exp., 201, is a form apparently destitute of 

 wool, even when young. 



Open grounds, rather common from tlie Bay of San Francisco to San Diego, and east to the 

 borders of Nevada and S. Utah, where the smooth variety was collected by Anderson, Walson, 

 ParvTj, &c. Head as lai'ge as that of a Damlelion, on a scape which is usually naked to the" base, 

 rarely with a leaf or two, and with a tendency to bear lateral heads. 



-f- ■¥- Heads smaller and paniculate on branching sterna or scapes: involucre of equal 

 scales and a few short calyculate ones at base. 



++ Pappus with one or more somewhat persisteid stoider and naked bristles. 



3. M. Torreyi, Gray. A span to a foot and a half higli, ratlier leafy, nearly 

 glabrous : branches and especially tlie peduncles more or less beset with some gland- 

 tipped bristles : heads rather large : involucre campanulate and many-flowered : 

 akenes linear-oblong, very strongly ribbed ; the 5 principal ribs almost wingdike, 

 the pair in each interval much less prominent ': outer pappus of 4 to 8 (usyally 5) 

 stout persistent bristles, between the thickish bases of which are minute teeth. 

 — Proc. Am. Acad. ix. 213. Af. sonchoides, Torr. in Stansbury Rep. 392 ; Gray, 

 PI. Wright, ii. 105, in part; Eaton in Bot. King Exp. 201, not of Torr. & Gray. 



Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, on the borders of the State {Anderson, Watson, Lemmon) ; 

 thence east to Salt Lake and the southern part of Utah. Involucre sometimes half an inch higli, 

 generall}^ smaller. 



4. M. Xanti, Gray, 1. c. Slender, glabrous or slightly woolly when young : 

 stem scapedike and loosely panicled, a foot or more high : leaves mostly radical, 

 runcinate-pinnatifid, thin ; the cauline ones small and with almost fdiforiii lobes : 

 heads small : involucre cylindraceous, rather few-flowered : akenes linear-oblong, 

 obtusely 15-ribbed, with 5 ribs moderately stronger, the cnpdike apex obtusely 5- 

 toothed : outer pappus of 3 to 5 ^'ery slender and partly persistent bristles. — 

 M. parvijiora (J), Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. v. 1G3, not of Benth. 



Cape San Lucas, Lower California (Xantus). It may occur in the southern part of the State. 



5. M. Cleveland!, Gray. Slender, glabrous : stem rather naked, loosely pan- 

 icled, a foot or more high, bearing numerous heads : leaves thin, all linear, spar- 

 ingly laciniate-pinnatifld : involucre campanulate, rather many-flowered ; the scales 

 green with brownish or purplish tips : young akenes cylindraceous, equably and 

 lightly striate-nerved : outer pappus of one stout bristle and a crown of many con- 

 spicuous thin and white teeth ; soft bristles of the inner pappus disposed to fall 

 separately. — Proc. Am. Acad. ined. 



Near San Diego, JD. Cleveland. Also Guadalupe Island, Lower California, Dr. E. Palmer. 

 Leaves a line or two wide, even the radical ones seldom over 2 or 3 lines broad, from 1 to 3 inches 



