428 COMPOSITE. Stephanomeria. 



which are rather shorter than the minutely scabrous akenes, naked below, and 

 sparingly barbellate-plumose towards the summit. — Hemiptilium Schottii, Gray, 

 in Bot. Mex. Bound. 105. 



On the Gila, Schott, therefore beyond the limits of California, but likely to occur on the 

 Colorado. 



2. S. pentachceta, Eaton. A foot high, probably annual, excessively branched, 

 paniculate : lower leaves linear and sometimes runcinate-toothed ; upper reduced to 

 minute scale-like bracts : heads 3 or 4 lines long, 5-flowered : involucre of about 5 

 principal scales : akenes oblong-linear, columnar, truncate at both ends, slightly 

 narrowed only at base, rugose-tubercled between the angles : pappus of 5 slender 

 rigid bristles, longer than the akene, sparingly pectinate at the somewhat dilated 

 base, thence naked to the middle, above rather copiously plumose. — Bot. King 

 Exp. 199, t. 20. 



Truckee and Humboldt Valleys, Nevada ( Watson) : probably reaching the borders of the State. 

 Perhaps a form of the next, with a diminished number of bristles to the pappus. 



3. S. exigua, Xutt. A foot or two high, paniculately and diffusely much 

 branched from an annual root : radical and lower leaves linear or narrowly lanceo- 

 late, runcinate-pinnatifid or toothed ; the upper slender and mostly entire except at 

 the partly clasping base ; those of the branchlets reduced to minute and obtuse 

 bracts : heads 3 to 5 lines long, 3- 9-ilowered : akenes and pappus as in the preced- 

 ing, but the latter of more numerous bristles, " usually 3 from each angle of the 

 akene, and with their slightly dilated bases commonly united." — Eaton, 1. c. 198, 

 t. 20, fig. 6, 7. Hemiptilium Bigelovii, Gray, 1. c. 



Near Fort Mohave (Cooper), to Sierra Co. (Lemmon), and Carson City (Anderson, &c.) ; thence 

 through Nevada and New Mexico to the borders of Texas. 



§ 2. Heads mostly small : bristles of the pappus 12 to 25, slender and plumose 

 throughout : receptacle completely naked. — Stephanomeria proper. 



* Involucre narroiv, 3 — ^-flowered, most commonly 5-ftoivered, its outer sccdes all 

 short and calyculate : branches striate, slender and naked ; their leaves usually 

 reduced to small bracts : lower leaves linear ; the radical ones generally runcinate- 

 pinnatifid. 



4. S. paniculata, Xutt. Stem erect from an annual root, H to 3 feet high, 

 with rather simple ascending virgate branches, along which the short-pedicelled 

 heads are commonly racemose-panicled : involucre 3 or 4 lines long : akenes more 

 or less rugose or tuberculate between the narrow ribs. — Eaton, 1. c. fig. 5. S. vir- 

 gata, Benth. Bot. Sulph. 32. 



Hills and plains ; common through the State and in Nevada. There are two forms as to the 

 akenes ; one shorter and thicker, with narrowed base, and usually strong and numerous rugosities 

 between the distant ribs, as figured by Prof. Eaton in the Botany of King's exploration : this is 

 S. mrgata, Benth., and is the common Californian form, with the heads disposed to be spicate- 

 racemose along the rather rigid virgate (sometimes somewhat pubescent) branches. The other 

 form has narrower akenes, like those of S. exigua, with slight distinct tubercles in place of the 

 strong rugosities ; and the heads are more panicled. Apparently these characters do not always 

 coincide or hold out. 



5. S. minor, Xutt. Low : stems paniculately and loosely much branched from 

 a perennial root, a span to a foot or more high ; the slender and somewhat rush-like 

 brancbes terminated by the heads : involucre 4 to 6 lines long : akenes with broad 

 and strong (at length minutely scabrous) ribs having narrow grooves between, 

 columnar or slightly narrowed at the summit. — S. minor, heterophylla, & runcinata, 

 Xutt. 1. c. Prenanthes (?) temiifolia, Torr. Lygodesmia minor, Hook. Fl. i. 205, 

 t. 103. Jamesia, pauciflora, Xees in Xeu-wied, Trav. 



Dry plains, along the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada (Bolander, Torrey) to Oregon and to 

 the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. A New Mexican form of the species has narrower, 

 almost smooth, and more tapering akenes. 



