860 LXV. COMPOSITE. [Eclipta. 



2. E. platyglossa (broad-tongued), F. v. M. Fraijm. ii. 135 ; PL Vict. t. 

 39 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. iii. 536. Very near to E. alba, but the flower-heads are 

 smaller, the involuoral bracts narrow-lanceolate, and the ray florets yellow. 

 Leaves almost or quite sessile, lanceolate, strigose. Achenes quite those of E. 

 alba. — Wollastonia or Wedelia ediptoides, F. v. M. PI. Vict. t. 39. 



Hab.: From the islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria to Brisbane ; common in wet situations. 



A specimen from Facing Island, Port Curtis, R. Brown, has the involuoral bracts nearly as 

 narrow as in E. platyglossa, but according to E. Brown's notes, the ray-florets are white and it 

 seems almost to connect the two species. — Bcnth. 



57. BLAINVILLEA, Cass. 

 (After H. de Blainville.) 



Flower-heads heterogamous, radiate or discoid, outer florets female. Invo- 

 lucre ovoid or hemispherical ; bracts slightly unequal, outer herbaceous, inner 

 paleaceous, passing into the plicate scales of the receptacle. Eay or outer 

 florets with a small 2 to 3-toothed ligule or more or less regularly 2 to 3-fid. 

 Anther-base obtuse, entire. Achenes 3-cornered or biconvex. Pappus of 2 or 3 

 stout bristles without intermediate scales. — Erect or trichotomous scabrid herbs, 

 with opposite or alternate ovate or lanceolate leaves. Heads yellow or whitish, 

 terminal, in loose cymose panicles, often singly in the forks. 



The species are all tropical. 



1. B. latifolia (broad-leaved), DC; Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind. iii. An hispidly- 

 hairy annual, 2 to 3ft. high, rigid, with terete branches, the lower ones opposite, 

 upper alternate. Leaves . 2 to 4in. long, opposite or the upper ones alternate, 

 petiolate, ovate crenate-serrate, 3-nerved, cuneate at the base. Heads peduncu- 

 late, 4 to 6 lines in diameter. Involucral bracts oblong, obtuse; rigid. Ligules 

 yellow or whitish. Achenes blackish, about 2 lines long, of the. ray cuneiform 

 triquetrous curved. Pappus very short.. — Dalz. and Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 127 ; Clarke 

 Comp. Ind. 135 ; B. rhomboidea, Cass.; DC. I.e.; B. alba and hispida, Bdgew. in 

 Trans. Linn. Soc. xx. 70; Eclipta latifolia, Linn, f.; Hook. I.e. and F. v. M. 

 Fragm. viii. 145 ; Verbesina dichotoma, Wall. Cat. 3204, A (in part), B, C, D, E ; 

 V. Lavenia, Eoxb. PI. Ind. iii. 442. 



Hab.: Cape York, Dcsmel.XF. v. M.) ; Thursday Island and islands of Torres Straits, very 

 abundant. 



58. WEDELIA, Jacq. 



(After George Wolfgang Wedel.) 



(Wollastonia, DC.) 



Involucre of about 2 rows of herbaceous bracts either all nearly equal or the 



outer ones larger and more leaf-like. Eeceptacle chaffy. Florets of the ray 



female, ligulate; disk-florets hermaphrodite, tubular, 5-toothed, mostly fertile. 



Anthers obtuse at the base. Style-branches with rather acute tips, usually 



hirsute. Achenes more or less flattened, or rarely 3-angled, with obtuse or acute 



rarely winged edges. Pappus none or more frequently consisting of minute 



scales united in a little cup and occasionally produced into 1 or 2 short bristles. 



— Herbs with opposite leaves. Flower-heads pedunculate or rarely almost sessile, 



terminal or in the forks of the branches or axils of the upper leaves. Kay 



yellow. 



A considerable American genus with a few African and Asiatic species. 



Five or six of the outer involucral bracts more leaf-like and longer than 

 the others. Pappus cup-shaped. 

 Leaves oblong or lanceolate, narrowed' into a short petiole or nearly 



sessile i^ w. calendulacea. 



