220 LXxvni. compositjB. (J. D. Hooker.) 



globose, rough. Ovary 1-celled ; style slender, 2-fid ; arms (sometimes comiate) 

 Unear, ^terete, naked or externally pubescent or tipped by pubescent cones, 

 margins stigmatic ; ovule solitary, basal, erect, anatropous, nucleus with one 

 coat. F7-uU (an achene) dry, indehiacent. Seed erect, testa membranous, albu- 

 men ; embryo straight, cotyledons plano-convex, radicle short. — Affiniiies. 

 Close with Dipsaceee, VaUrianea, and Ldbeliaceee. DiaiKlB. Co-extensive with 

 dicotyledonous vegetation ; genera about 1000 ; species about 8000. 



The Indian Composite have been more sedulously studied than any other equally 

 large and intricate Indian family of plants. The first important contribution to our 

 knowledge of them under well characterised genera is contained in Don's "Pro- 

 dromus Florae Nep^,lens;B," wherein upwards of 60 species are described. Next came 

 " Wight's Contributions to the Botany of India," where 126 species a<« described by 

 De Candolle. This was followed by the great distribution of Wallich's Herbarium, 

 in which 400 species are enumerated, many named for the first time, after having been 

 referred in great part to their proper genera by Wallich himself, Brown, Bentham, and 

 others. These numbers, however, do not represent more than about 300 distinct species. 

 The volumes containing the Composite of De Caadolle's Prodromus include most of 

 the species distributed by Wallich, together with Wight's Peninsular ones, which were 

 studied and named chiefly by Arnott, and distributed in like manner to Wallich's. 

 The labours of these individuals and authors laid the foundation of all future know- 

 ledge of the Order in India. The greatest subsequent accession of species was the 

 result of Dr. Thomson's journeys in the N. W. Himalaya and Tibet, and his and my 

 own in East Nipal and Sikkim, which were hurriedly distributed after much labour in 

 referring the Com/positm to their genera, and in many cases to their species, by myself; 

 whilst at the same time I arranged the whole of the Indian material in the Hookerian 

 and other herbaria of Indian plants then at Kew, which were in great confusion. 

 After Dr. Thomson's return to India as Superintendent of the Calcutta Botanic Gar- 

 dens, he devoted several years to a critieal study of the Indian species, and on his 

 retirement left in the Calcutta Gardens a ms. catalogMe of all that were known 

 to him. In 1873 appeared the first part of the second volume of Mr. Bentham's and 

 my " Genera Plantarum," containing the Composit<e elaborated by Mr. Bentham. In 

 this work many of the Indian genera were for the first time studied in relation to their 

 allies in other countries, and various important changes were made as to their limita- 

 tion and disposition in the Order, and suggestions as to the classification of their 

 included species. This was followed in 1876 by the publication by my coadjutor, Mr. 

 C. B Clarke, of his " Compositse Indicse," founded on the " Genera Plantarum " in 

 respect of the genera, and on the rich Calcutta collections and Thomson's mss. in re- 

 spect of the species. This valuable and very laborious work has been since annotated 

 for me by its author with the Wallichian and Kew herbaria, and with various works 

 to which he had not access in Calcutta. In the following revision of the genera and 

 species I have adhered as closely as I could to the lines of Mr. Clarke's work, whilst 

 describing the genera and discussing the species in accordance with my own views. 



Tribe I. Vemonieae. Heads with the flowers all similar and tubular. 

 Anthers cleft at the base. Style-arms subulate, hairy. — -Leaves usually alternate. 

 Flotuers never yellow. 



Suhtribe 1. EtrvEBNONiEa;. Heads ^stinct, many-flowered. 



Achenes 4-5-angled. Pappus 1 . Ethulia. 



Achenes 8-10-ribbed. Pappus short, fugacious 2. Cbntbatherum. 



Achenes terete, shining. Pappus scanty 3. Ixi.MFitACH.XMitrM. 



Achenes lO-ribbed. Pappus 4. Adenoon. 



Achenes 10-ribbed. Pappus long, copious 5. Vebnonia. 



Subtribe 2. Ltchnophoeb.s. Heads 1 or few-flowered, crowded into dense 

 masses like single heads. 

 Corolla usually cleft laterally. Pappus ehaffy 6. Elephahtopus. 



Tbibe II. Eupatorlees, Heads with the flowers all similar and tabular. 



