Biish — TJie Genus Othake Raf. 173 



2. Othake Rafinesque, New Fl. Am. 4 : 73 (1836). 



Stevia Nuttall, Journ. Acad. Philad. 2 : 121 (1821), not Stevia Cav. Ic. 

 4:32. t. 354-356 {1797). 



PaZa/oxia DC. Prodr. 5:124 (1836;, not Palafoxia Lag. Nov. Gen. & 

 Spec. 26, 181 (1816). 



Florestina DC. Prodr. 5 : 655 (1836), not Florestixa Cass. Bull. Philom. 

 1815, and Diet. 17:155. t. 86 (1820). 



Palafoxia T. & G. Fl. N. A. 2 : 368, 369 (1842), not of Lag. Nov. Gen. & 

 Spec. 26, 181 (1816). 



Polypteris Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 19:30 (1883), not Polypteris Nut- 

 tall, Gen. 2 : 139 (1818). 



Erect, rough, glandular, canescent or cinereous branching 

 annual herbs, with alternate, mostly entire leaves, or the lower 

 opposite and slenderly petioled, and corymbose or paniculate, 

 pedunculate heads of tubular, or both tubular and radiate 

 pink or rose-purple flowers. Involucre campanulate or 

 obconic, its bracts in 1 or 2 series, narrow, herbaceous, 

 nearly equal, or with a few exterior shorter ones, appressed, 

 usually colored, at least at the narrow sphacelate tips. 

 Receptacle small, flat, naked. Ray-flowers, when present, 

 pistillate, fertile, the rays 3-cleft, but sometimes abortive or 

 wanting. Disk -flowers perfect, fertile, their corollas with slen- 

 der tubes and deeply 5-parted campanulate limbs. Anthers 

 entire or eraarginate at the base. Style-branches filiform, 

 acutish, glandular-pubescent throughout. Achenes linear or 

 narrowly obpyramidal, quadrangular, usually pubescent or 

 hairy. Pappus of 6-12 lanceolate, often strongly costate 

 scales, that of the outer achenes as numerous, often much 

 shorter, oblong or spatulate, obtuse, erose or fimbriate. 

 Southwestern North American scabrous-pubescent, annual 

 herbs, penetrating Mexico, flowering spring, summer and 

 autumn. 



The species fall naturally into two sections, the first with 

 homogamous heads containing one-half of the species, not 

 considering the Mexican species, which may here be men- 

 tioned as Othake Lindenii, the Polypteris Lindenii of Gray, 

 PI. Wright. 1:120, 1852, and the second section with hetero- 

 gamous heads, containing the remainder. For the North 

 American species I offer the following : — 



