66 COMPOSITE, (aster family.) 



Lflavea in fives and sixes; fruit hairy G. triflorum. 4 



Leaves 4, 5 or 6 in a whorl; flowers white G. trifidum. 5 



Leaves in fours, 3-nerved, lanceolate G. boreale. 9 



1. G. Californicum, Hook and Arn. Low, branching; sterile flowers terminal, in 

 threes, corolla yellowish; fertile ones solitary, recurved in fruit; fruit purple. 



2. G. Nuttallii, Gr. Leaves 2 to 5 lines long, thickish, varying from ovate-oblong 

 to linear-lanceolate, margins oiliate; flowers solitary. 



3. G. Aparine, L. The margins midrib, and angles of the branches armed with 

 spinulose bristles; peduncles 1-2-flowered; fruit large, white. (?) 



4. G. triflorum, Miohx. Bright green, nearly smooth; leaves oblong-lanceolate, 

 acute at both ends, the margins and midrib often beset with hooked bristles; peduncles 

 once or twice 3-forked; with hooked bristles. 



5. G. triiidum, L. Nearly smooth, except the roughened angles of the slender 

 stems; leaves 3 to 9 lines long; lobes of the white corolla often only three; fruit smooth. 



6. G. boreale, L. Cymes many flowered, in a thyrsiform panicle. 



Oedeb 30. VALERIANACEiE. 



Herbs with opposite leaves, no stipules; the distinct stamens fewer than the lobes of 

 the corolla, and borne on its tube; the inferior ovary with two empty cells, and one con- 

 taining a solitary ovule, ripening into a kind of akfine. 



1. PLECTRITIS, (Lindl.) DC 



Limb of the calyx obsolete. Tube of the corolla very gibbous, spurred at the base; 

 the short limb bilabiate; upper lip 2-oleft, lower 3-cleft. Fruit winged by the open 

 sterile cells. Flowers white, small. 



1. P. congesta, DC. Corolla about 3 lines long; its spur much shorter than the 

 tube. 



2. P. macrooera, Torr. & Gr. Corolla smaller; its thick spur about the length of 

 the body. 



Oeder 31. COMPOSITiE. 



Flowers, usually many in a dense head, sessile, on a common receptacle, surrounded 

 by a calyx-like involucre; the calyx reduced to hairs or scales, or obsolete; the corolla 

 tubular, equally lobed,, ligulate or bilabiate, the 5 stamens united by their anthers into a 

 tube inclosing the 2-parted style; the ovary inferior forming in fruit an akene which is 

 usually crowned with the persistent calyx (pappus). 



This , the largest of all the orders, is represented in California by over 500 species, 140 



