872 LXV. OOMPOBIT^. [Erechthiies. 



hermaphrodite, 5-toothed. Anthers obtuse at the base. Style-branches trun- 

 cate. Achenes striate or angular. Pappus of numerous simple fine capillary 

 bristles.— Herbs, annual or perennial. Leaves alternate, entire toothed lohed or 

 pinnately divided. Flower-heads in terminal corymbs. Florets small, usually 



yellow. 



The genus is dispersed over New Zealand and South America, and extends into Africa and 

 Asia, but belongs chiefly to the southern hemisphere.— Bcntft. 



Involucres small, mostly of 8 to 10 bracts. Plants without wool, glabrous 

 or nearly so. Perennial. Leaves once, twice, or thrioe-pinnatifid, 



with linear segments 1. E. Atkinsonia. 



Involucres of about 12 bract^. Plants more or less cottony-woolly or 

 scabrous-hirsute. 

 Leaves mostly toothed, lobed, or divided. Involucres above 3 lines 

 long. Achenes short. Annual, often hard at the base (rarely 



perennial?) 2. B.arguta. 



Leaves linear, mostly entire. Achenes rather long, sometimes con- 

 tracted into a short beak. Perennial S. E. quadridentata. 



1. E. AtkinsoniEe (after Miss Louisa Atkinson), F. v. M. Fragm. v. 88 ; 

 Benth. B'l. Amtr. iii. 658. An erect glabrous herb several feet high. Flower- 

 heads small in a large terminal panicle ; perennial, the leaves once, twice or 

 three times pinnately divided into narrow linear segments. Involucral bracts 

 are more frequently 10 but sometimes 11 and 12, about 3 lines long, brownish- 

 green. Female florets 12 to 15 or more. 



Hab.: Southern localities. 



2. li. arguta (segments of the leaves acute), DC. Prod. vi. 296 ; Benth. Fl. 

 Austr. iii. 659. A rather coarse erect herb of 1 to 2ft., when full grown, usually 

 annual but with a hard base, sometimes probably biennial (or perhaps with a 

 more persistent rhizome), more or less scabrous-hirsute with crisped hairs, and 

 occasionally with white cottony wool on the under side of the leaves and about 

 the inflorescences, rarely nearly or even quite glabrous. Leaves lanceolate, 

 oblong or almost linear, irregularly and often acutely toothed, lobed or divided, 

 sessile or petiolate, but almost always clasping the stem with toothed auricles. 

 Flower-heads small, in a terminal corymb much more dense than in E. quadri- 

 dentata. Involucre in the normal form about 3 lines long, of about 12 narrow 

 bracts, often squarrose at the tips and surrounded by a few minute outer ones. 

 Florets rather numerous, the females in 2 or more rows, with about 6 to 10 

 hermaphrodites in the centre. Achenes short, angular, shortly hirsute or glab- 

 rous. — Hook. f. Fl. Tasrd. i. 219 ; Senecio argutus, A. Rich. Fl. Nov. Zel. 258, 

 and Sert. Astrol. 104 ; S. multicaulis, A. Rich. Sert. Astrol. 105 ; ErechtJdtes 

 laeerata, F. v. M. in Linnaea, xxv. 417 ; Senecio Lessoni, F. v. M. Cat. Hort. 

 Melb. 1858, 26. 



Hab.; Southern localities. 



The species is also in New Zealand. 



3. E. quadridentata (four teeth of corolla), DC. Prod. vi. 295 ; Benth. Bl. 

 Austr. iii. 660. An erect herb more or less clothed with a white deciduous 

 cottony wool, from 1 to above 2ft. high, with a perennial rhizome. Leaves 

 linear, linear-lanceolate or very rarely oblong-lanceolate, the radical ones some- 

 times petiolate, the stem-leaves sessile, entire or with a few small distant teeth, 

 the longer ones attaining 8 or 4ifl. with or without small stem-clasping auricles. 

 Flower-heads slender in a terminal corymbose panicle usually loose but some- 

 times more crowded. Involucre narrow, about 4 lines long, of about 12 very 

 narrow bracts. Female filiform florets 30 to 40 or more, the hermaphrodites in the 

 centre few (not above 8). Achenes glabrous or papillose-pubescent, striate, usually 

 slender and contracted at the top but very variable, from scarcely longer than in 



