COMPOSITAE 473 



13. EPALTE8 Cassini 



Herbs with alternate, usually decurrent, toothed leaves. Heads small, 

 solitary or corymbose, globose or disciform, heterogamous, the flowers 

 tubular, the outer ones female, many-seriate, the corolla much shorter than 

 the style, 2- or 3-toothed. Disk flowers perfect, tubular, 3- to 5-fid. Anther- 

 bases sagittate. Achenes of female flowers subterete, 5- to 10-ribbed, 

 the pappus none; of the perfect flowers usually abortive, pappus hairs 2 

 or 3, or none. Involucre broad, the bracts many-seriate, the receptacle 

 naked. 



Species about 10, in most tropical countries, 1 in the Philippines. 

 1. E. australis R. Br. 



Root stout, woody, the stems rather slender, spreading, prostrate, pr 

 ascending, branched, 6 to 15 cm long. Leaves obovate to oblong-obovate, 

 rounded, rather coarsely toothed, 1.5 to 2.5 cm long, narrowed below to 

 the short petiole. Heads solitary, axillary, shortly peduncled, depressed- 

 globose, about 5 mm in diameter, the involucre hemispheric, green, the 

 bracts several-seriate. Flowers very numerous, minute, purplish, including 

 the achenes about 2 mm long. 



In old rice paddies near La Loma fl. Dec^an., and probably in other 

 months, very rare; of very local occurrence in the Philippines. India 

 to Australia. 



14. CENTrPEDA Loureiro 



Small, spreading or ascending, annual, hairy or nearly glabrous herbs. 

 Leaves alternate, toothed. Heads small, sessile, axUlai^, globose or disci- 

 form, yellow. Outer flowers female, many-seriate, the corolla small; disk- 

 flowers perfect, few,. the corolla campanulate, 4-fid. Involucre hemispheric, 

 the bracts 2-seriate. Achenes 4-angled, hairy on the angles; pappus none. 

 (Latin "hundred'' and "feet" in reference to its prostrate habit.) 



Species 4, in Asia, Australia, and in South America. 



1. C. MINIMA (L.) Willd. (C. orbicularis Lour.). 



A prostrate or ascending, slender Herb, the branches numerous, spread- 

 ing from the root, 8 to 20 cm long, somewhat woolly or nearly glabrous, 

 leafy. Leaves 1 cm long or less, oblong-obovate to oblanceolate, with few 

 coarse teeth. Heads sessile, globose, 3 to 4 mm in diameter, many-flowered. 

 Achenes about 1 mm long. 



In open waste places, occasional, fl. Dec-June; widely distributed in the 

 Philippines, undoubtedly introduced. India, through Malaya to Australia 

 and Polynesia. 



15. ERIGERON Linnaeus 



Erect, branched, often coarse herbs with alternate, toothed, usually 

 sessile leaves. Heads panicled, heterogamous, rayed, the ray-flowers female 

 in several rows, their ligules short or long. Disk-flowers perfect, tubular, 

 6-cleft. Involucre ovoid "or hemispheric/ the bracts narrow, equal. Recep- 

 tacle flat or convex, naked. Achenes narrow, compressed, the pappus a 

 single row of slender bristles or often double, the outer series often reduced 

 to a few short hairs or bristles. (Greek "spring" and "an old man" sug- 

 gested by the hoariness of some vernal species.) 



Species about 100, chiefly in the north temperate zone, fewer in the 

 tropics, 1 introduced in the Philippines. 



