810 LXV. COMPOSITE. [Erigerm. 



3. E. linifolius (Flax-leaved), Willd. Spec. PI. iii. 1965 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. 

 iii. 495. A coarse erect annual, 1 to 2ft. high or rather lAore, clothed with long 

 soft hairs, or more" shortly scabrous-pubescent. Radical leaves petiolate, oblong, 

 often coarsely toothed or pinnatifid ; stem leaves sessile, linear, entire or 

 occasionally remotely toothed, often above 2in. long. Flower-heads rather 

 small, pedunculate, more or less paniculate. Involucre broadly ovoid or almost 

 hemispherical, the bracts narrow, acute, in 2 or 3 series. Female florets very 

 numerous, filiform, not so long as the pappus, the outer ones usually dilated at 

 the tip into a minute ligula,.the others all tubular; diak-florets few. Style- 

 apptodages short. Achenes small, flat, pubescent. — Cmiysa ambigim, DC. Prod, 

 v. 381 ; Sond. in Linna5a, xxv. 481 ; Erigeron ambiguus, Sch. Bip. in Phyt. 

 Canar. ii. 208. 



Hab.: Brisbane liivev, Moieton Bay, 1<'. v. ilueller ; Eockhamptoii, a troublesome weed, Thozet. 

 A common tropical weed, found also in Europe. 



17. VITTADINIA, A. Rich. 

 (After C. Vittadini.) 



■(Microgyne, hesi.; Eurybiopsis, T>G.) 

 Involucre hemispherical or oampanulate, the bracts imbricate in several rows, 

 with dry or scarious margins, without herbaceous tips, in the Australian species 

 narrow and mostly acute. Receptacle pitted, without scales. Florets of the ray 

 female numerous and crowded, so as to form more than oiie row, ligiilate and 

 spreading in the Australian species. Disk-florets numerous, but often not so 

 many as those of the ray, hermaphrodite, tubular, dilated upwards, usually 

 5-lobed. Anthers obtuse at the base. Style-lobes somewhat flattened, with 

 subulate tips or appendages papillose on the back. Achenes narrow, compressed 

 or flat, with or without ribs on the faces. Pappus of numerous often unequal 

 capillary bristles. — Perennial herbs or undershrubs, at length woody at the base, 

 or in species not Australian shrubs. Leaves alternate. Flower-heads terminal, 

 solitary or forming loose leafy corymbs. Ray-florets white or blue. Disk-florets 

 yellow. 



The genus extends to New Zealand and extratropioal S. America, and (in a slightly modified 

 form) to the Sandwich Islands. Of the 4 Australian species one is also in New Zealand, and 

 very closely allied to the S. American one ; the others are endemic. As a genus, the group is 

 nearly allied to Burybia, Aster, and especially to Erigeron, but, as shpwn by A. Gray (Proo. 

 Amer. Acad. v. 116), it oann6t well be united with either. From Eurybia it differs in the more 

 numerous ray-florets and the more flattened achenes, from Erigeron in habit, and from both in 

 the subulate tips to the styles. — Benth. 



Section I. Vlttadlnia vera. — Achenes with 2 or more ribs on each face. 



Involucre imbricate in several rows. Achenes shorter than the involucre, 



with 2 or 3 ribs on each face. Pappus not so long 1. V. braehycomoides . 



Involucre of 2 or 3 rows. Achenes nearly as long as the involucre, 

 many-ribbed or finely striate. Pappus as long again 2. K. aiiHrali$. 



Section II. Surybiopsis. — Achenes very flat, the margins slightly thickened u-ithout 

 prominent ribi on the faces. 



Scabrous-pubescent or hirsute. Leaves oblong or cuneate. Eay-fiorets 



scarcely exceeding the pappus S. V. scabra. 



Glabrous or scabrous-pubescent. Leaves linear or the lower ones linear- 

 cuneate. Bay-florets longer than the pappus i. V. macrorrhiza. 



1. V. braehycomoides (Brachycome-like), F. v. M. Fragm. v. 86, as an 

 Aster ; Benth. Fl. Austr. iii. 490. Stems from a thick woody stock, erect or 

 decumbent, not much branched, ^ to l|ft. long, with more or less of a loose white 

 Woolly deciduous tomentum. Leaves in the original form linear or lanceolate, \ 

 to IJin. long, entire or rarely 3-toothed at the end. Flower-heads on Ion" 



