424 COMPOSITE. Microseris. 



oblong small scales tipped with a several times longer white and soft plumose awn. 

 — Gray in Proe. Am. Acad. ix. 208. Scorzonella nutans (Geyer), Hook, in Lond. 

 Jour. Bot. vi. 253. Ptilophora nutans, Gray, PI. Fendl. 113. Calais {Ptilophora) 

 nutans, Gray in Pacif. B. Pep. iv. 112. Stephanomeria intermedia, Kellogg in Proc. 

 Calif. Acad. v. 39. 



Low or moist grounds, throughout the Sierra Nevada, from Mariposa Co. north to Washington 

 Territoiy and thence east to Montana. Heads in flower half an inch high, narrow ; the golden- 

 yellow flowers open through the day. Akenes 3 lines and pappus about i lines long. The root is 

 said to be eaten raw by the Indians. 



2. M. major, var. laciniata, Gray, 1. c. Mostly stouter and more branched 

 from the base, and the leaves in this variety generally pinnately parted into slender 

 linear divisions : involucre of lanceolate and more acuminate scales, which are im- 

 bricated in three lengths, the outermost shortest : bristles of the pappus not quite so 

 plumose as in M. nutans. — Calais {Ptilophora) major, var. laciniata, Gray, PI. 

 Fendl. 113. C. gracUiloba, Kellogg, 1. c. 48. 



Long Valley, Mendocino Co. {Kellogg), and Idaho, on Clear Water, Spalding. 



§ 2. Pappus of 5 to 10 very long-awned scales, either almost plumose or naked: akenes 

 not attenuate towards the apex and hardly towards the base : involucre regu- 

 larly imbricated, the outer scales gradually shorter : stems simple or mostly 

 branching : root fusiform and probably biennial. — Scorzonella, Gray. 

 {Scorzonella, Nutt., Benth. Calais § Scorzonella, Gray.) 



% Akenes slender, as in the first section : awns or bristles of the pappus barbellate 

 or almost plumose, rusty-colored. 



3. M. sylvatica, Gray, 1. c. Stem a foot or so high, rather stout, commonly 

 simple and scape-like, rarely leafy to the middle : leaves laciniate-pinnatitid or 

 toothed : head many-flowered : involucre carnpanulate ; the scales all acuminate, 

 the outer from an ovate or ovate-lanceolate base : ligules rather long : scales of the 

 pappus 6 to 10 (mostly 10), oblong-lanceolate, considerabty shorter than the slender 

 awn. — Scorzonella sylvatica, Benth. PI. Hartw. 320. Calais {Anacalais) sylvatica, 

 Gray in Pacif. E. Eep. iv. 1 1 3. 



Var. Stillmani, Gray, 1. c. Differs in the narrower scales of the involucre, 

 which are lanceolate and gradually tapering from the base, and the awns of the 

 pappus (sometimes at least) less strongly barbellate. 



In woods or low grounds, on the Sacramento and its tributaries, Hariweg, Bigelow, &c. The 

 var. collected by Stillman, Samuels, and on Mark West Creek by Bigelow. Peduncle or scape 

 6 to 12 inches long. Head an inch high. Akenes (seen in the mature state only in the variety) 

 3 lines long, glabrous or minutely scabrous. 



-* * Akenes mostly shorter {terete, or in one species sometimes more or less i — 5-angled) : 



awns of the pappus only denticulate or scabrous. 

 +- Sccdes of the involucre all long-acuminate : pappus of 8 or 10 short and small 



entire scales tipped ivith a very long capillary awn : stems more or less branching 



and leafy beloiv : ligules elongated. 



4. M. laciniata, Gray, 1. c. A foot or two high, commonly stout : leaves 

 from narrowly to very broadly lanceolate in outline (4 to 16 inches long), commonly 

 laciniate-pinnatifid and the lobes long and slender : heads large : scales of the in- 

 volucre all broad, the outer ovate and abruptly acuminate : scales of the pappus 

 ovate or ovate-lanceolate, only a third or fourth the length of the (sometimes pris- 

 matic) akene. — Hymenonemal laciniatum, Hook. Fl. i. 301. Scorzonella lacini- 

 ata, Niltt. in Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. n. ser. vii. 426. Calais {Scorzonella) laciniata, 

 Gray in Pacif. E. Eep. 1. c. — Passes into 



Var. procera, Gra} r , 1. c. Stem stouter and more leafy, 2 or 3 feet high : leaves 

 broadly lanceolate or oblong (1 to 2^ inches wide), merely denticulate, occasionally 

 laciniate : scales of the pappus mostly rather narrower or more tapering into the 



