394 XXXIX. COMPOSITAE. [Vittadinia. 



alternate usually sessile leaves. Heads solitary or paniculate or in elongated corymbs. 

 Bay -florets white or purple. 



lft.-5ft. high. Female ray-florets all ligulate . . . . . . .. * E. Canadensis. 



lft.-3ft. high, hirsute. Female ray-florets mostly filiform and tubular. Ligule 



very short or . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * -B. UnifoKus. 



* E. Canadensis, L., Sp. PL 863. Annual. Stem lft.-5ft. high, simple or 

 rarely branched, glabrous or sparingly hispid. Leaves lin.-3in. long, the radical 

 often toothed, the upper entire. Panicle terminal, oblong. Heads on slender pe- 

 duncles, numerous, very small ; involucral bracts narrow, acute, nearly glabrous. 

 Eay -florets short, scarcely exceeding the involucre. Ligule shorter than the tube, 

 white. Disk-florets fewer. 



NORTH and SOUTH Islands : abiindantly naturalised, especially in the North. Canadian 

 flea-bane. Feb. to April. North America. 



* E. linifolius, Willd., Sp. PL iii. 1955. Annual, erect, lft.-3ft. high. A 

 coarser plant than the preceding, with longer usually softer hairs, or sometimes 

 scabrid, pubescent. Eadical leaves oblong, toothed or pinnatifid ; petioles short ; 

 cauline leaves entire or remotely toothed, acute, sessile or petioled. Heads on 

 slender peduncles, paniculate ; involucre broadly campanulate, pubescent or almost 

 villous ; involucral bracts few, mostly 2-seriate, acute. Female florets shorter than 

 the pappus, mostly tubular, the outer minutely ligulate. Disk-florets few. Achenes 

 small, pubescent. 



NORTH Island ; naturalised from Waitemata to the North Cape ; Wellington. Rare. Feb. 

 to April. Tropics. 



8. VITTADINIA, A. Eieh. 



Involucre obconic or campanulate ; involucral bracts in about 3 series^ 



narrow, acute, margins scarious. Receptacle pitted. Ray-florets numerous, 



short, ligulate, spreading. Disk-florets usually fewer, hermaphrodite, 5-lobed 



or -toothed. Anthers obtuse below. Style-arms with subulate tips, flattened. 



Achenes narrow, compressed, sometimes ribbed. Pappus unequal. Suffru- 



tescent plants, with alternate leaves and solitary terminal flower-heads. 



A small genus of about 13 species, most plentiful in the Sandwich Islands. Four or five 

 species are found in Australia, one of which is indigenous in New Zealand. 



1. V. australis, A. Rich., FL Nouv.-ZeL 251. Stems 3in.-10in. high, 

 suberect or ascending from a woody base. Branches numerous or few, usually 

 slender. The whole plant glabrate, pubescent, hispid or glandular. Leaves 

 Jin. -Jin. long, obovate-spathulate or linear-cuneate, entire or 3-toothed or 

 -lobed at the apex; margins lobed or entire; petioles very short. Head ter- 

 minal, solitary on slender peduncle ; involucre broadly obconic ; involucral 

 bracts in 2 or 3 series, linear-subulate, acute, glabrate or pubescent. Rays 

 white, usually exceeding the pappus, narrow, spreading. Disk-florets longer 

 than the involucre. Achene subulate, puberulous, pubescent or almost hispid, 

 smooth or with 5-8 fine ribs on each face. Pappus equal or unequal, longer 

 than the achene. — A. Cunn., Precurs. n. 441; DC, Prod. v. 280; Hook. f. 

 Handbk. 136; Benth., Fl. Austr. iii. 490. V. triloba and V. cuneata, DC, 

 Prod. V. 281. V. scabra and V. cuneata, Hook, f., Fl. Tasm. i. 181, 182. 



