790 LXV. COMPOSITiE. [Vn-nonia. 



Pappus of numerous capillary bristles, usually surrounded by an outer row of 

 very short often ohaff-like bristles, which are rarely entirely wanting. — Herbs, or 

 in species not Austrahan, shrubs or climbers. Leaves alternate. Flower-heads 

 terminal or in the upper axils, in cymes or panicles or sometimes solitary. 

 Florets usually purple. 



A very numerous genus, widely spread over the warmer regions ot the globe, but most 

 abundant in America, where it extends beyond the tropics both to the northward and southward. 

 In Australia it is represented by 2 species, one a weed ot tropical Asia, differing slightly from 

 the great mass of the genus in its habit, which is nearly that of a Gonyza.—Benth. (in part). 



An erect probably annual, about 12 or 18in. high, the stems slender, grooved. 



Florets purplish ' ■ 1. V. einerea. 



A climber ; leaves ovate to lanceolate, quite entire. Achenes 10-ribbed ; pappus 



red 2. V. 



1. V. einerea (grey). Less.: DC. Prod. v. 21; Benth. Fl. Austr. iii. 459. 

 Annual or forming a perennial rootstock, erect, 1 to 2ft. high, nearly glabrous, 

 scabrous-pubescent, hirsute, hoary-tomentose or woolly. Lower leaves petiolate, 

 ovate-oblong or lanceolate, often irregularly toothed or sinuate, the upper ones 

 few and narrow, or occasionally nearly all ovate or nearly all narrow. Flower- 

 heads small, on slender peduncles, forming a terminal leafless oymose panicle. 

 Involucral bracts very acute. Achenes cylindrical, scarcely striate, hairy. Pappus 

 white, the outer row very short, and sometimes reduced to very few bristles. — V. 

 erigeroides, DC- Prod. v. 25 ; V. cyanojnoides, Walp. in Linnrea, xiv. 509, and 

 probably nearly the whole of the section Tephrodes, DC 



Hab.: Port Curtis, il/'G/ZKOT'a)/; Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Kockhampfcon, Dallachy ; 

 Brisbane Eiver, Moreton Bay, and Peak Downs, F. v. ilueller ; Keppel Bay, Tliozet. 



There are 2 prineipal varieties in Queensland, one either nearly glabrous or rarely hirsute, 

 with short rigid hairs, the other very hoary-tomentose or woolly, with softer more obtuse leaves, 

 and usually smaller flower-heads, the corolla-lobes also appear shorter. The flowers very purple 

 or white, but almost always purple in the more glabrous form. — Bcnth. 



2. v. scandens (climbing), DC; Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind. iii. 241. A rambling 

 climber ; branches slender, woody, glabrous or pubescent. Leaves on slender 

 petioles, ovate, elliptic or lanceolate; acuminate, quite entire, glabrous or pubes- 

 cent beneath, 2|- to 4in. long, 1 to 2^m. broad, rather thin. Heads, about |in. 

 diameter, 5 to 10-flowered, in long leafy terminal panicles, all pedicellated. 

 Involucral bracts ovate or linear-lanceolate, acute or obtuse. Achenes compressed 

 glabrous, about 1|- line long, deeply 10-ribbed. Pappus red ; outer hairs few, 

 short, slender. — V. vagans, DC; Uoni/z(( scandens, Wall.; Gymnanthemwn scan- 

 dens and vagans, Steetz ; Hook, in Fl. Brit. Ind. I.e. 



Hab.: Eookingham Bay, J. Dallachy (F. v. M. Fragm. vi. 234). 



5. ELEPHANTOPUS, Linn. 



(Elephant's foot.) 



Flower-heads of 2 to 5 florets, eoUected together in compound heads. In- 

 volucres compressed, of about 8 bracts, dry, stiff, alternately plain and condupli- 

 cate. Eeceptacle naked. Florets with 4 narrow equal lobes, but deeper cleft 

 on one side, so as to be somewhat palmate. Anthers obtuse at the base. Style- 

 lobes subulate. Pappus of a few stiff bristles, somewhat dilated at the base. — 

 Stiff herbs, usually grey with appressed often silky hairs. Leaves- alternate. 



A genus of about a dozen American species, one of which is also spread over tropical Africa 

 and Asia, as well as Australia.— Bcnt/j. 



1. E. scaber (rough), Linn,; DC. Prod. v. 86; Benth. FL Austr. iii. 4:61. 

 Stock perennial. Stems stiff, erect, about a foot high, with a few forked 

 spreading branches, more or less covered, as well as the leaves and involuci es, 

 with greyish hairs. Radical leaves 2 to 4in, long, obovate-oblong, more or less 



