Jan. 31, 1884] 



NA TURE 



313 



the filaments subulate. The smallness of the flowers 

 ^2| cm. in diameter), the broad petals, the red colour, 

 the bristly peduncles, the 8-10 stigmatic rays, the oblong 

 oval anthers, the subulate filaments, &c., point conclu- 

 sively to the determination of the plant a.s Papave?- rhceas, 

 var. geiuiina. 



At the present time this species is found nowhere in 

 Upper Egypt, and also appears to be absent from the 

 whole Nile Valley, while it is met with in abundance near 

 Alexandria and on the Mediterranean coast as a weed in 

 cornfields. 



The flower-heads of Ccntimrca depi-essa, the involucral 

 part of which is 15 to 17 cm. in diameter, belong to a 

 form that is now met with in Persia and .Afghanistan ; 

 whereas in many countries — Greece, for instance — only 

 small-headed varieties seem to occur. The peduncle 

 served, as in the poppy flowers, to fix the heads in the 

 garlands, which was not always the case in the ancient 

 floral wreaths.' Two or three of the leaves are still left 

 on many of the specimens. They are narrow-linear, 

 almost sessile, and exhibit, besides the arachnoid-canes- 

 cent pubescence characteristic of the species, the peculiar 

 prickle-like tip, which is several millimetres long, and 

 serves to distinguish C. deprcssa from its only allies C. 

 cyanus and C. cyanpides. From most of the leaves, how- 

 ever, this brittle appendage has fallen, in consequence of 

 repeated handling of the wreaths. Close under the base 

 of the flower-heads appear some linear bracts, shaped like 

 the upper leaves of the stem. In the ancient specimens 

 these bracts were present in unequal numbers, from two to 

 seven, and often wanting altogether. They do not overtop 

 the whole involucre. This character was rather against the 

 correctness of the identification, for such bracts are not 

 usually present below the heads of C depressa, though they 

 are in C. cyaiiocdcs, which difters very much in having 

 pappusless achenes. But I have seen a recent specimen 

 (.Afghanistan, Griffith, 3294.) having one or two leafy bracts 

 at the base of each head. In the recent forms of Cm- 

 taiirea depressa, the lanceolate teeth of the membranous 

 margin of the inv-olucral bracts arc sometimes colourless, 

 sometimes brown at the base. In the flower-heads of the 

 twenty-first dynasty these teeth are deep brown in the 

 middle, with a white margin and a white tip, and they 

 are here, as the specific character requires, a little shorter 

 than the breadth of the bract. The three or five teeth at 

 the tips of the bracts are grown together about half their 

 length. On the lowermost bracts of the involucre the 

 teeth are quite decurrent and colourless ; on the upper 

 they are more limited in number — from eleven to fifteen — 

 and only towards the tip. In consequence of the in- 

 cautious handling of the wreaths when the coffin was 

 opened, the beautiful ray- flowers, which in this species 

 are exceptionally large, are mostly fallen away. In many 

 heads, however, they are still attached, and exhibit a 

 dark violet colour, similar to recently-dried specimens. 

 The lobes of the limb of the corolla are broad, almost 

 ovate and acuminate. \'ery well-developed achenes occur 

 in the ancient flower-heads, affording indubitable evi- 

 dence of the correctness of the determination of tlie 

 species. The achene is light in colour, shining, slightly 

 laterally compressed, and oblong-ovoid in shape. The 

 areole incloses half the length of ihe achene, and at the 

 base there are a few small hairs, as in recent specimens 

 from Schiraz (Kotschy, 302), Afghanistan (Griffith, 3294), 

 and from Sber (C. Koch), while others from Asia 2^Iinor 

 are quite naked. = The intermediate bristles of the pappus 

 are one-fourth longer than the achene, the inner ones 

 half as long. The long prickly tips of the upper leaves, 

 the large, broadly-lobed ray-flowers, and the achene 

 bearing a pappus exceeding it in length, prove that the 



\shiiua. agypliaca with li.-ilf ol 

 » his diagnosis cf the species ha 



' Thus, f 

 Ih-j calyx cu 



- H.ooker, 

 •' basal areole bearded. 



example, only flowers cl 



IF were used. 



Fl. Brit Ind.,"iii. p. 3S5 



flower-heads of the mummy-wreaths belong to Centaurea 

 depressa. This species is wanting in the present flora of 

 Egypt as well as in that of the contiguous countries. It 

 novv occurs as a cornfield weed in all parts of .Asia Minor, 

 Armenia, Perda, Afghanistan, Beluchistan, and West 

 Thibet ; and Prof. Heldreich found it around Tripolitza, 

 in Arcadia, and in the Attic Plain, near Hergellon. In 

 the last-named country the species flowers in April. 

 There are no localities for this plant in Syria and Pales- 

 tine to my knowledge. Specimens of this Centaurea 

 from ancient Egyptian wreaths are preserved in the 

 museum at Leyden.^ It is not stated, however, from 

 what epoch they date. 



Many of the wreaths of the mummy of Xzi-KhonsU 

 consist entirely of willow leaves and the flower-heads of 

 Picn's corotiopifolia, Asch.- The numerous features in 

 the parts of the flower-heads which characterise this 

 species are easily seen in the ancient specimens, and not 

 a single peculiarity is apparent by which it might be dis- 

 tinguished from the recent small form with low-spreading 

 branches, now so common on the outskirts of the desert. 



The indumentum of the involucral bracts is particularly 

 well preserved. The bracts themselves are long lanceo- 

 late with an undulated membranous naked edge, and taper 

 off into a long point ; while on the outside along the mid- 

 rib they are furnished with one to three rows of spreading 

 bristles, glochidiate at the tip, and between these a white 

 arachnoid felt — the same kind of tomentum clothing the 

 peduncles. The achenes of the ray are smooth and 

 cylindrical, more or less curved, as thick at the tip as in 

 the middle, and crowned with a pappus of short persistent 

 bristles cohering about half their length. The achenes of 

 the disk are broadly club-shaped, somewhat constricted 

 at the tip, and provided between the ten angles with two 

 rows of small round tubercles. The pappus consists of 

 bristles plumose at the tips and is deciduous, and exceeds 

 the achene in length five times. 



The dissimilarity of the inner and outer achenes of the 

 ancient Egyptian Picris at once shows that it belongs to 

 the section Spifzelia, Schultz Bip. The smallness of the 

 flower-heads and the nature of the indumentum prove 

 that it belonged to the small desert form, stiil common 

 about Thebes, and not to the large-headed, otherwise 

 hairy, varieties {Picn's lyrata and P. pilosa), only found 

 in the neighbourhood of .Alexandria, and on the coast of 

 the Mediterranean Sea. The ultmiate inflexion of the 

 involucral bracts over the ripening achenes (" phyllis 

 demum carinatis, incurvis") is perceptible in many of the 

 flower-heads from the ancient wreaths. 



Picris coronopifolia belongs to that set of desert plants 

 which are usually only found on the border of the desert 

 as far as the waters of the Nile reach by infiltration. It 

 is not met with in the valleys and channels of the lower 

 desert strips any more than among the weeds which follow 

 cultivation in the black earth of the Nile alluvium. It 

 generally grows associated with Crepis senccioides, Leon- 

 todon /tispidaiuin, Picris sulpkurca, Lotus pusiiliis, &c., 

 which likewise belong to the flora characteristic of the 

 borders of the desert. The flowering time of these plants in 

 Middle Egypt is Alarch and April. In February they only 

 begin to develop, and it may be assumed that the flora of 

 Thebes is from two to four weeks in advance of that of 

 the neighbourhood of Cairo. From the occurrence of the 

 flowers of Picris coronopifolia in ihe wreaths of the 

 mummy of Nzi-Chonsu we may conjecture that the solemn 

 rites of placing this princess in the vault took place in 

 March or April. The assumption that it took place in 

 February or May would be doubtful, and it is very 



' According t.) Prof. P. Ascherson in Zcitschri/t /iir Ethnohgie, ix. 

 Jahrg.. 1S77, and Dr. W. Pleyte in 2 liylage lO! ds 3iste Jaarver-gadering 

 der Ned.-Bat. Vereeniging. 29 Juli, 1882. 



- Boissier. in his "Floa i rientalis." lii. p. 740. reduces this species to 

 Cnpis radiaUi (= C. siiiceioides, Uel.), ar.d this is done by many oiher 

 authors. Piois lyrata, Del., and P. pilosa. Del., can only be regarded as 

 varieties of/", coronofi/olia, Asch. (.Lcantoiim coraiiopi/otuuii, Desf.). 



