SENECIO. LXXV. COMPOSITE. 347 



47. VERBESINA. 



Heads few or many-flowered ; rays 9 , few or ; disk 5 ; scales in 

 2 or more series, imbricated, erect ; chaff concave or embracing the 

 flowers ; achenia compressed laterally, 2-awned. ^ American plants, 

 sometimes shrubby. Lvs. often decurrent, serrate or lobed. Hds. solitary 

 or corymbose. 



1. V. SIEGESBECKIA. Michx. (Coreopsis alata. Ph. Actinomeris alata. 



Nutt.} St. 4- winged ; Ivs. opposite, ovate or lance-ovate, serrate, acumi- 

 nate, tripli- veined, tapering to a winged petiole ; hds. radiate, in trichotomous 

 cymes ; rays 1 5 ; ach. wingless. Roadsides and dry fields, Western and South- 

 ern States, common. Stem 4 6f high. Leaves 5 8' by 3 4', thin. Heads 

 about 25-flowered, with yellow corollas and yellow, lanceolate rays, the latter 

 about f long. Aug. Sept. 



2. V. VIRGINICA. Virginian Crown-beard. 



St. narrowly winged, pubescent above ; Ivs. alternate, lanceolate or lance- 

 ovate, subserrate, scabrous, acute or acuminate, tapering to the sessile base ; 

 lower ones decurrent ; corymbs compound, dense ; rays (oval) and diskfls. white ; 

 ach. winged. Dry woods, Penn. to La. Stem (3 5f high) and leaves beneath 

 often more or less tomentose. Heads about 20-flowered, the 3 or 4 rays scarce- 

 ly I' long. Aug. Sept. 



48. DYSODIA. Cav. 



Heads many-flowered; rays 9; disk cT; involucre of a single series 

 of partially united scales, usually calyculate ; achenia elongated, 4- 

 angled, compressed ; pappus scales chaffy, in one series, fimbriately 

 and palmately cleft into bristles. (D Lvs. mostly opposite andpinnate- 

 ly parted or toothed. Hds. paniculate or corymbose. Fls. yellow. 



D. cHRYSANTHEMolDEs. Lagasca. (Tagetes papposa. Vent. Boebera chr. 

 Willd.} St. glabrous, much branched ; Ivs. pinnately parted, lobes linear, 

 toothed; hds. terminal ; scales campanulate, united at base ; bracts at base 7 9, 

 linear; pappus bristles slender, as long as the involucre. Prairies, &c., 111., Mo. 

 to La. An ill-scented plant, above If high, resembling a Tagetes. Flowers 

 bright yellow. 



49. SENECIO. 



Lat. senex, an old man ; the word is synonymous with Erigeron. 



Involucre of many equal leaflets or invested with scales at base, 

 the scales withered at the points ; receptacle not chaffy ; pappus 

 simple, capillary and copious. A vast genus, embracing 600 species of 

 herbs and shrubs. Lvs. alternate. Fls. mostly yellow, exceeding the 

 involucre. 



* Heads discoid. 



1. S. VULGARIS. Common Groundsel. 



St. paniculate, erect, angular ; Ivs. sinuate-pinnatifid, dentate, amplexi- 

 caul. A common weed growing about houses, in waste grounds, rubbish, &c. 

 Introduced from Europe. Stem 18' high, leafy, branching, generally smooth. 

 Leaves alternate, thin, bright green, the radical ones stalked. Flowers without 

 rays, terminal, scattered, yellow, appearing all summer. 



* Heads radiate. 



2. S. ATTREUS. Golden Senecio. 



Radical Ivs. ovate, cordate, crenate-serrate, petiolate, cauline ones pinnati- 



fid, dentate, terminal segments lanceolate ; ped. subumbellate, thick ; rays 8 12. 



Tj. A handsome and very variable plant, in meadows, woods, &c. (U. S. and 



Brit. Am.) with golden-yellow flowers. Stem smoothish. striate, erect 1 2f 



high, simple or branched above, terminating in a kind of umbellate, simple or 

 compound corymb. Lower stem leaves lyrate, upper ones few and slender. 

 oU 



