253 XXXIX. COMPOSITAE. 



* S. arvensis, L., Sp. PI. 99. Stem rather stout, 2ft.-3ft. high, branched 

 above, hairy. Radical leaves oblong-lanceolate, pilose, entire serrate or lobed ; 

 cauline pinnatifid. Involucral bracts shorter than the corolla. Eeceptacle hemi- 

 spherical, hairy ; involueel 4-furrowed. Calyx-teeth 8-16, reduced to bristles. Outer 

 corollas 4-lipped ; inner shorter, usually d-lobed. 



NORTH Island : Auckland, naturalised, Cfieeseman. Corn scabious. Europe. 



* S. maritima, L., Cent. PI. ii. 8. Erect. Branches fastigiate, glabrous. 

 Leaves 2in.-4in. long, oblong-spathulate, rounded at the apex, narrowed into broadly- 

 winged petioles, coarsely serrate or almost dentate, often pinnatifid. Peduncles 

 5in.-12in. long. Involucral leaves exceeding the flowers. Eeceptacle elongated in 

 fruit. Involucels 8-furrowed. Calyx-limb with 5 persistent bristles. — S. atropur- 

 purea, L., Sp. PI. 100. 



NORTH Island : abundantly naturalised at Mangonui and in other localities. Sweet scabious. 

 Jan. to April. Mediterranean. 



Oedee XXXIX.-OOMPOSITAE. 



Flowers (or florets) minute, densely crowded on depressed or conical 

 receptacles forming heads surrounded by an involucre of 1 or several series of 

 erect bracts, the whole resembling a single flower. Receptacle naked or with 

 chaffy scales, hairs, or bristles between the flowers. Calyx-tube adherent with 

 the 1-celled ovary, the limb represented by a pappus or by a ring of scales at 

 the apex or 0. Corollas all tubular, hermaphrodite, 5- rarely 4-toothed, 

 valvate, forming discoid heads ; or all hermaphrodite, ligulate, with a short tube 

 and linear elongated blade : most frequently both kinds occur in one head, the 

 central or disk-florets tubular and hermaphrodite or male only, and those of the 

 circumference ligulate and female or neuter in 1 or 2 series, forming a ray 

 (heads radiate) . Stamens 5 or 4, inserted on the corolla-tube, the anthers usually 

 united longitudinally, and forming a ring or sheath which surrounds the style 

 (syngenesious) , the connective shortly produced upwards, and the lobes obtuse 

 or sometimes produced below into hair-like points or tails. Ovary inferior, 

 1-celled, 1-ovuled. Style filiform in the perfect flowers, usually divided into 

 2 short stigmatic arms. Fruit an achene or rarely a nut. Seed erect ; 

 endosperm ; embryo straight or rarely curved ; radicle inferior. Flower- 

 heads with disk-florets only are termed " discoid " ; with ligulate or ray-florets 

 only, or with both, " radiate " : in the latter case the head is said to be hete- 

 rogamous; when the florets are of one kind only, homogamous. Herbs, shrubs, 

 or rarely trees, with alternate or opposite exstipulate leaves. Flower-heads 

 terminal, rarely axillary, solitary, paniculate, corymbose or cymose. 



The largest order of flowering-plants, distributed through all regions and all countries, but less 

 frequent in tropical Asia and Africa than in other large areas. Genbea, 800. Species, 12,000. 



Amongst the New Zealand genera Pleurophyllum is endemic in the antarctic islands; 

 Olearia and Celmisia, Brachycome and Craspedia are restricted to New Zealand and Australia, but, 

 with the exception of one Celmisia and one Craspedia, none of the species are identical. 



The limitation of the principal genera of this large order is attended with unusual difficulty, 

 and even now is in a very unsatisfactory condition. I have followed the arrangement of Bentham 

 and Hook. f. in " Genera Plantarum " with a few trivial exceptions, although fully convinced that 

 such genera as Olearia, Plewrophyllum, and Celmisia must ultimately be merged in Aster, while 

 BaouUa stands in exactly the same relation to Helichrysum ; but the present arrangement is pre- 

 ferred in this work on account of its convenience. 



