13:i 



.J4. DISCOPLEL'RA DC. Men. Umbel. 3S.— Smooth 

 braricliinjif ;innuals, with finely dissected leaves (filiform or lanceo- 

 late divisions ), involucre of foliaceons bracts, involucels of promi- 

 nent or minute bractlcts, and v>hite fiowers. 



1. D. capillacea DC. 1. c. A foot or two high, or even 

 reachin.2^ 5 or ♦) feet: leaves finely dissected into filiform divisions: 

 nmbel r> to 20-raved, with involucre of filiform bracts usually cleft 

 or parled, and involucels more or less prominent; rays ]^ to 1 

 inch long; pedicels \y, to 8 lines long: fruit y^ to 1 line long, with 

 filiform or thick dorsal and intermediate ribs, the laterals forming 

 a broad flat band about the fruit: seed-face convex. (Fig. 156.) 



Wet ground. Massaehus<'tts to Florida, and westward to the plains. 

 Fl. June to October. 



This species is an exceedingly variable one, so much so that while cer- 

 tain extreme forms have been considered as distinct varieties and even 

 species, they are so completely connected by intermediate forms that no 

 distinct separation can be made. For instance, the number of rays is very 

 inconstant, the involucrai bracts are frequently cleft and entire in diiTerent 

 umbels upon the same plant, the involucels may or may not be prominent 

 in any form, and the dorsal and intermediate ribs mav be filiform or prom- 

 inent with any other combination of characters. The prominent ribs fur- 

 nish the chief character of DeCandolle's var. roMtnla, but ribs just as prom- 

 inent occur in all other foiuns, and DeCandolle hiniself (Prodr. iv. 107) says 

 he is not able to separate many specimens of var. casta ta from the species. 

 An extreme form, completely connected with the species by intermediate 

 forms, is 



Vm: Nuttallii C. X: R. Bot Gazette, xii. 292, which is 

 usually stouter, with more numerous rays, entire involucrai bracts, 

 and minute involucels.— />. X/iifa/ili T)(^. 



In the Mississippi Valley, from S. Illinois (!>.'<»' i/i to Louisiana and 

 Texas. 



2. D. laciniata r.enth. «.K: Hook. Gen. Plant, i. 907. Two 

 or three feet high: leaves dissected into lanceolate divisions, or the 

 uppermost linear-setaceous: umbel nearly equally many-rayed, 

 with involucre and involucels of numerous 8 to o-parted setaceous 

 bracts; rays ^ to 1 1^ inches long; pedicels 2 to 8 lines long: fruit 

 about 2 lines long, with broad and flattish dorsal and intermediate 

 ribs, the laterals forming a promint acute ridge about the fruit: 

 seed-face plane. (Fig. 1 57.)— /><7//r//.v lac'niiatns ICng., & Gray, 

 PI. Lindh. 21t). 



