508 coMPOsiTAE (composite family) 



of numerous rather large, imbricated and appressed, scarious-margined, 

 lacerate-fringed and often tinted scales. Achenes flattened, pubescent or 

 glabroiis, 2-3-nerved. Pappus of numerous stout barbellate bristles, that of 

 the ray commonly shorter, or reduced in part or wholly to short-subulate 

 bristles or little scales. 



Bracts of the invplucre acuminate; heads large, when expanded 4-5 cm. 

 or more broad. 

 Stems evident, 0.5-4 dm. high. 

 Erect, simple at least below. 



Perennial; stems glabrate, monocephalous . . , . 1. T. fprmosa. 

 Biennials; stems cinereous-canescent. 



Pappus of two subulate awns and a circle of short squamellae 2. T. eximia. 

 ., Pappus of 'both ray- and disk-flowers plUFisetose . . 3. T, Parry i. 



Divaricately branched from the base ..... 4. T, grandiflora. 



Stemless, or stems less than 5 cm. long. 



Cinereous-pubescent , . . ' . . , . . . 5. T. alpina. 

 WooUy-oanescent . . . . .... . . 6. T. condensata. 



Bracts of the involucre . acute (not acuminate) or obtiise; heads 

 smaller, when expanded usually only 2-3 cm. broad. 

 Leafy stems evident, at maturity a few cm. to 1 dm. or more long; 

 the whole plant more or less canescent. 

 Winter annuals or biennials, branched from the crown of the tap- 

 root. 

 Involucral bracts cinereous-canescent On the back . , , 7, T. Watsonii. 

 Involucral bracts green but often strigillose on the back. 



Diminutive plants with almost filiform stems and roots; 



heads few . 8. T. Fendleri. 



Stouter stems and roots; heads several to many , . , 9. T. strigosa. 

 Perennial with compact branched caudex . . . , - • ^^' ^- incana. 

 Stemless, or the stems very short (1-3 cm.) even at maturity. 

 Pale-pubescent; the leaves often surpassing the sessile heads. 



Cinereous with appressed pubescence or glabrescent , . . 1 1 , T. exscapa. 



White with long fine wool 12. T. spathulata. 



Green ,b^t often more or less^trigillose. especially when young. 

 Achenes pubescent (elochidiate-capitellate). 



' ' Caudex branched (neadS'Several); involucral bracts acute . 13. .T. glabella. 

 Caudex simple (heads usually solitary); involucral bracts ob- 

 tuse c 14. T. Rothrockii. 



Achenes glabrous . . . ' 15. T, dejecta. 



1. Townsendia fonnosa Greene, Leaflets 1: 213. 1906. Perennial, from a 

 branched caudex, the sterile branches ending in a rosette of leaves, the others 

 in a stout, upright, leafy, monocephalous stem: basal leaves cuneately to spatu- 

 lately obovate, very obtuse, entire, 2-4 cm. long, of thin texture, glabrous, 

 except as to the ciliolate margins; those of the stem numerous, spatulate- 

 oblong: heads large, 4-5 cm. broad from tip to tip of the broad purple rays; 

 bracts of involucre oblong, to lanceolate, thin, broadly scarious-margined. 

 (T. pinAorum. Greeney in herbj) — Mountains of New Mexico, and probably in 

 Colorado. 



' 2. Townsendia eximia Gray, PL Fendl. 70. 1848. Stems erect, simple or 

 sparingly branching, 1-3 dm. high: leaves spatulate or the upper lanceolate: 

 head sparingly leafyrbracted or naked at base; involucral bracts ovate- 

 lanceolate and somewhat rigidly cuspidate-a,cuniinate, whitish-searious with 

 green center: rays blue or purplish: achenes broadly obovate, almost cartilagi- 

 nous, glabrate (sprinkled with a few short and obscure glochidiate-tipped 

 hairs) ; pappus wholly persistent, of 2 subulate at length corneous stout awns 

 which are rather shorter than the achene (sometimes wanting in the ray), and 

 a circle of rigid squamellae which are mostly coroniform-concreted at base 

 and rigid in age. (T. Vreelandii Rydb. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 28: 22. 1901.)— 

 Mountain sides: Colorado and New Mexico. 



3. Townsendia Parryi Eaton, Am. Nat. 8: 212. 1874. Perennial or bien- 

 nial, canescently pubescent; the caudex very, short: leaves rosulate, obovate- 

 spatulate, often apiculate, tapering into a petiole: peduncles stout, 5-15 cm. 

 long, solitary or several, somewhat leafy below, naked above and bearing 

 single large heads: bracts of the involucre in 3 or 4 series, lanceolate, acute, 

 herbaceous, with scarious lacerate-ciliate margins, the inner ones acuminate: 

 rays bright blue, double the length of the involucre: pappus the same in rays 

 and disk, persistent, of stout and imequal barbellate bristles, a little longer 



