Composite Bellis. 235 



and North America. From the Latin bellus, signifying 

 pretty. 



1. B. perennis (fig. 125). Common Daisy. The double 

 white, crimson, and striped varieties are amongst the prettiest 

 of dwarf herbaceous plants, but they seem to be fast going out 

 of vogue. Perhaps, like some other fashions, they will again 

 come into favour. A handsome variegated form called aucu- 

 bcefolia is worthy of notice. The Hen-and-Chickens Daisy is 

 a proliferous variety of this species, in which the flower-heads 

 branch out and form several smaller ones. 



9. BRACHYC5ME. 



Very near the last genus in structure. Involucral bracts 

 membranous at the margin. Receptacle pitted, naked. Fruit 

 compressed, surmounted by a very short bristly pappus ; hence 

 the name, from /rfyja^vy, short, and ^0/^77, hair. An Australa- 

 sian genus of upwards of thirty species. 



1 . B. iberidifolia. Swan River Daisy. An erect glabrous 

 annual about a foot high. Leaves pinnate ; segments linear. 

 Flowers blue or white with a dark centre, about an inch in 

 diameter. A very pretty plant. 



10. GRINDELIA. 



Frutescent or herbaceous plants, often glutinous. Flower- 

 heads solitary, terminal, yellow. Pappus composed of 2 to 8 

 narrow deciduous bristles. About a dozen species are known. 

 The genus was named in honour of a German botanist. The 

 species are all American and rather tender. 



1. G. grandiflora. An erect biennial species a yard or more 

 high, branching near the top. Radical leaves spathulate ; cauline 

 sessile, clasping, dentate. Flower-heads large, ray-florets orange. 

 A native of Texas, flowering all the Summer. 



G. squarrosa is a dwarfer species with sharply-toothed leaves 

 and single-headed flowering stems ; and G. inuloldes is an ever- 

 green dwarf species, 



11. SOLIDAGO. 



A genus of upwards of 100 species, chiefly from North 

 America. They are usually.tall rather coarse-growing herba- 

 ceous or frutescent herbs with alternate entire or toothed leaves 

 and terminal scorpioid cymes or panicles of yellow flowers in 

 small but numerous heads. Receptacle naked. Ray-florets 



