590 COMPOSITAE (composite family) 



Involucre campanulate; bracts herbaceous, imbricated in several series, the 

 inner long-acuminate, the outer successively shorter and acute. Receptacle 

 flat or convex, foveolate or alveolate. Achenes linear or somewhat turbiri&tfe, 

 8-10-costate or -striate, truncate at summit, the basal callosity acute and not 

 expanded; areola lateral: Pappus bright ■ white, soft and fragile, double, 

 namely, of a single short external bristle, and 15-20 short truncate or emar- 

 ginate scales terminating in a long griicefuUy recurving soft-plumose capillary 

 bristle or awn.-^Microsms. 



1. Ptilocalais nutans (Geyer), Greene, Bull. Cal. Acad. 2; 54. 1886. .jsien- 

 derj 1-3 dm. high; fusiform roots either fascicled or solitary: leaves lentire 

 and spatulate-obovate to pinnately parted into narrow hnear lobes: heads 

 8-20-flowered, slender-peduncled; involucre of 8-10 linear-lanceolate;, gradu- 

 ally acuminate, principal bracts: bristles of pappus several tiipes longer than 

 the! oblong scale at the base. Microseris rmians.— From British Colur^ibia 

 and !liIontaha to southwestern Colorado and Calif ornia. ;:: i 



98. M ALACOTHRIX DC 



I Leafy-stemmed or sometimes scapose herbs, with altertiate or all radical 

 leaves and long-peduncled panicled or solitary heads of yellow pr white 

 flowers that are usually nodding in the bud. Involucre many-flowered, the 

 bracts either imbricated or only calyculate. Receptacle with or without deli- 

 cate capillary bristles among the flowers. Achenes not flattened, short-oblong 

 or columnarj glabrous, terete and striately 5-15-costate, or 4-5-angled by 

 the prominence of the stronger ribs, slightly if at all narrowed either ,wa,y, 

 with broad truncate apex having an entire or denticul^ite, border or sharp icdge. 

 Pappus a series of soft and scabrous, or near the base ,barbellulate, gristles, 

 which are deciduous more or less in connection, and commonly 1-8 outer and 

 stouter ones which are more persistent and smodther. ' ' ' 



The outei* pappus of 2-8 persistent bristles , , , , i' ' ' , 1. M. Torreyii'-' 



', The pappus a single series and all deciduous. ' ' ,, < i ' ' . ^ 



Summit of achene bordered ,by 15 minute teeth 2, . M. sonchpides. 



Summit of achene cupulate but entire 3. M. Fendleri.' ' 



1. Malacothrix Torreyi Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 9: 213. 1874. Stems 1-3 

 dm. high, from an annual root, branching from the base: lower leaves oblong, 

 rather short, pinriatifid wf^h short and dentate ,lobes, teeth and lobes callous- 

 mucronate: heads seldom less than 12 mm. high, broadish-campanulate, short- 

 peduneled on' the leafy branches; bracts of the involucre lanceolatCi aicuminate: 

 achenes linear-oblong, S-angledby as many saUent often almost wingjike ribs, 

 a.much less proinihent pair in each interval: outer pappus ofi2-8fetout per- 

 sistent bristles, between the thickish bases of which are minute teeth.— ^ 

 Southeastern Oregon to Nevada and Utah. ■ . 1 1 m , / i j ■ 



' 2. Malacothrix sonchoides (Nutt.) T. & G. Fl. 2: 486. 1843. Stem freely 

 branching,, the branches ascending and sparsely leafy except near the base; 

 herbage glabrous or early glabrate: leaves ; oblong or' the upper narrowly 

 lanceolate, .pinnatifid with short caUous-toothed lobes: peduncles 3 c;m. or less 

 long: iiivolucre about 8 mm. high; the bracts linear-acuminate: ligules bright 

 yellow, a full cm. long: achenes '16^.Striate, 5 of the ribs stronger than the 

 others, rendering the achene somewhat ^-angled, crowned with a IS-denticulate 

 white border; permanent pappUs-bristles none, {M. runcinata A. Nels. Bull. 

 Torr. Bot. Club 26: 485. , 1899.)— From Wyoming and Colorado to CalifbMa. 

 3. Malacothrix Fendleri Gray, PI, ;Wright. 2: 104. 1852. Low, glabrate; 

 stems from a slender root, few or several, diffuse: earliest leaves sparsely 

 arachnoid; the radical runcinate-pinnatifid, the teeth and' lobes cuspldate- 

 mucronate; the cauline few, linear, the uppermost entire: achenes cylindrical, 

 equally 15-costate the summit bbrdfered bjr a cupulate crown, white within 

 and with entire margin; all the pappus deciduous or rarely with 1 or 2 per- 

 sistent bristles. — New Mexico and westward. " " i i ! 



