110 NORTH AMERICAN FLORA [VOLUME 33 
1. Rolandra fruticosa (L,.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 360. 1891. 
Echinops fruticosa ,. Sp. Pl. 815. 1753. 
Rolandra argentea Rottb. Coll. Soc. Med. Havn. 2: 258. 1775. 
Rolandra diacantha Cass. Dict. Sci. Nat. 46: 171. 1827. 
Rolandra monacantha Cass. Dict. Sci. Nat. 46: 171. 1827. 
Stems erect, sparingly branched, 2-10 dm. high, finely puberulent; leaf-blades firm, oblong 
to elliptic, 3-14 cm. long, 1-5 cm. wide, acute or short-acuminate, entire or undulate, narrowed 
at base into a short pubescent petiole, scabrellate or glabrate above, closely gray-tomentose 
and pilose on the veins beneath; veins prominent, ascending; glomerules numerous, terminal 
and in the upper axils, dense, hemispheric to subglobose, 10-15 mm. in diameter, the shortened 
axes densely hirsute among the oblong, scarious, subulate bracts; involucre 4-5 mm. high, 
the scales ovate to ovate-lanceolate, thinly pubescent to glabrous, usually glandular on the 
back, tipped with a short, straight or bent spine, the outer slightly exceeding the inner, ciliate 
near the tip; achenes glabrous and glandular, 2 mm. long; pappus 0.5-1 mm. long, of numerous 
unequal fimbriate segments. 
TYPE LOCALITY: Tropical America. 
DISTRIBUTION: Porto Rico and Honduras, and south to Brazil. 
ILLUSTRATION: Sw. Fl. Ind. Occ. pl. 27. 
19. SPIRACANTHA H.B.K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 4: 28. 1818. 
Stems suffruticose, branching. Leaves alternate, pinnately veined. Inflorescence capitate, 
of several glomerules, subtended by 3 or 4 foliaceous bracts. Heads 1-flowered, aggregated 
into glomerules of 12-20 heads, each subtended by a coriaceous spinose bract. Involucre 
of 5 or 6 scales in two series. Corolla tubular, regularly 4- or 5-lobed. Anthers sagittate, 
obtuse at base. Style 2-lobed, with short branches. Achenes slightly compressed, obscurely 
S-nerved. Pappus of numerous, stout, erect, unequal scales. 
Type species, Spiracantha cornifolia H. B. K. 
1. Spiracantha cornifolia H.B.K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 4: 29. 1818. 
Stems low, 2-4 dm. high, loosely branched, pubescent; leaf-blades on short petioles, 
ovate, 2-4 cm. long, 1-2 cm. wide, acute, entire or denticulate, sparsely papillose-pilose above, 
pale and thinly tomentose on the surface beneath, pilose with long hairs on the prominent 
veins; peduncles densely hirsute, the subtending leaves thin, ovate; glomerules ovoid, 5-8 
mm. long; bracts oblong, hirsute above, broadly rounded at the apex and bearing a squarrose 
spine one-third to one-half the length of the bract; heads not exserted, 3-4 mm. high; involucral 
scales linear, thin and scarious, glabrous, sharply acuminate, 1-nerved, 3 mm. long, beset at 
base with hairs of the same length; achenes obovoid, glabrous, 2 mm. long. 
TYPE LOCALITY: Colombia. 
DISTRIBUTION: Yucatan to Colombia. 
ILLUSTRATION: H.B.K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. PL. o3. 
C2 
