Sericocarpus. COMPOSITE. 171 



heads small, terminating tlie branches, with violet or purplish or white ra} s ; 

 these usually infertile: fl. summer. — PI. Fendl. 71; Benth. & Hook. Gen. 

 ii. 20 'J. 



-P. Coulteri, Ghat, 1. c. Branched from near the ba.se, glabrous or obscurely liispidulous- 

 puberuleut, or the rigid spreading flowering branchlets grauulose-glandular : leaves all short, 

 rigid, mostly incisely dentate, thu^e of tlje branclilets minute : involucral bracts oblong or. 

 broadly lanceolate : rays conspicuous (quarter-inch long) and rarlier broad: jjappus copious. 

 — S. Arizona, Palmer, Ltminon, Pruiijh:, &c. ilohave JJesert, California, Parish, Coulter, &c. 

 (Adj. -Mex.) 



P. asteroid.es, Ghat, 1. c. Scaljro-puberulent, a foot to a yard high from a plainly annual 

 root, lower leaves s]patulate or oblong, sometimes laciniate-piunatifid, sometimes barely 

 dentate ; upper mostly linear and entire ; involucral bracts lanceolate or linear : rays smaller 

 and nari'ower : pappus less copious. — >S. W Texas to Arizona, Wright, &.ii. (Adj. Jlex.) 

 P. BREviLixGni.ATA, Schultz Bip., of Mcxico, the remaining species, resembles P. asteroides, 



but is more sleuder, with narrower leases, smaller heads, and small rays which hardly surpass 



the pappus. 



46. EREMIASTRUM, Ciray. ('Ep^/xto, desert, aa-rpov, star. i. e. Aster 

 of the desert.) — PL Thurb. in Mem. Acad. v. 320 ; Benth. & Hook. Gen. ii. 270. 



— Siii_;:ie species. 



~ E. bellioides, Git ay, 1. c. Small winter annual, diffusely branched from the very base and 

 depressed, liirsntely liispid throughout: leaves linear-spatulate, entire (half-inch long) ; those 

 at the summit of the flowering branches loosely r>jsnlate-involucrate around the -nlitary 

 heads, and passing into involucral liracts: rays (ilduag-linear, white, acutely 2-.3-di:iitate 

 at the apex, 4 lines long: disk yellow. — On the desert near the l!iu CoLjrado, borders of 

 California and Arizona; fl. January and February, Thurber, Xt wherry, Sdi'itt, Pointer, \V. G. 

 Wriijht, &c., and borders of S. Utah, Parry. — Seldom, if ever, are the bristles of the pap- 

 pus combined in clusters so as to form laciniate paleJE. 



47. SERICOCABPUS, Xees. {^-qpiKii, silky, KapTro's, fruit, the akenes 

 sericeous-pilose.) — Perennial herbs, of low or moderate stature (all X. American) ; 

 with alternate commonly entire and sessile leaves, and small heads usually fasci- 

 cled in a terminal compact cyme ; both disk and ray white or whitish, or the 

 latter chano-ins in aire to purplish : fl. midsummer. — Xees, Ast. 14.s ; DC. Prodr. 

 V. 2(31 ; Torr. c^t Gray, Fl. ii. 101 ; Benth. & Hook. Gen. ii. 270. 



* P.-ippus ferruginous: leaves sparingly serrate, comparatively thin and veiny, and tlie radical 

 ones large. 



S. conyzoides, Xees, 1. c. A foot or two high, and slightly pubesceut or glabr.ate : radical 

 and lower cauli'ne leaves spatulate (2 to 5 inches long, tapering into ■■■ margined petiole), 

 obtnse ; upper ones oblong-lanceolate : involucre turbinate, 1 8-20-flowered : rays rather short 

 and broad.— Conijza asteroides, L. Spec ii. 861. Aster Manjlandicus (Pluk. JIant.), Jlichx. 

 Fl. ii. 108. A. conyzoides, ^Yilld. Spec. iii. 2043. — Dry woodlands, common from Mame to 

 (;»hin aud south to Florida. 



* * Pappus white: leaves entire, fimer, smaller, obscurely veined, disposed to be vertical, mostly 

 obtuse: green tips of involucral bracts sliort, seldom squairose: stems more leafy. 



-1— Atlantic species: akenes short, canescent-sericeous. 

 S solidagineus, Nees, 1. c. Green, almost glabrous : stems strict and slender, 2 feet 

 high acutelv striate-angled : leaves from Hnear to spatulate-lanceolate, an inch or two long : 

 heads mostlv glomerate and sessile, narrow, rather few-flowered : involucral bracts oblong, 

 verv smooth and rigid : ravs at length elongated. — Cunyza linifoUa, L., 1. c. -l.-'-r Ameri- 

 canus albus, &c., Pink, Aim. t. 79, fig. 2. A. solidagineus, Jlichx 1. c. A. sohdagwoides, 

 •\Villd. 1. c. Galatella obiusifolia, Lehm. Ind. Sem. Hamb. 1837. — Moist woodlands, Canada 

 to Tennessee, Alabama, and Louisiana. 



