468 COMPOSITAE. Vou. IIL. 
1. Verbesina 4alba L. Yerbadetajo. Fig. 4439. 
Verbesina alba L. Sp. Pl. 902. 1753. 
Eclipta erecta L, Mant. 2: 286. 1771. 
Eclipta alba Hassk. Pl. Jav. Rar. 528. 1848. 
EEN (Zz Annual, rough with appressed pubescence, erect: or 
a diffuse, 6’-3° high. Leaves lanceolate, oblong-lanceo- 
late or linear-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, denticulate 
or entire, narrowed to a sessile base, or the lower peti- 
oled, 1-5’ long, 2”-10” wide; heads commonly numer- 
ous, 3-6” broad, nearly sessile, or slender-peduncled; 
rays short, nearly white; anthers brown; achenes 
4-toothed, or at length truncate. 
Along streams, and in waste places, Massachusetts to IIli- 
nois, Nebraska, Florida, Texas and Mexico. Naturalized 
from the south in its northeastern range and widely dis- 
tributed in warm regions as a weed. July—Oct. 
59. TETRAGONOTHECA (Dill.) L. Sp. Pl. 903. 1753. 
8 
Erect perennial mostly branched herbs, with opposite, sessile or connate-perfoliate, broad 
dentate leaves, and large peduncled heads of tubular and radiate yellow flowers. Involucre 
depressed-hemispheric, its principal bracts 4, large and foliaceous, inserted in I series; inner 
bracts 6-15, small, subtending the pistillate ray-flowers. Receptacle conic, chaffy, the chaff 
concave, enwrapping the perfect fertile disk-flowers, the corollas of which are slender and 
5-toothed. Anthers entire or minutely 2-toothed at the base. Style-branches of the disk- 
flowers hispid, tipped with elongated appendages. Achenes thick, 4-sided, truncate at the 
summit. Pappus none, or of several short scales. [Greek, 4-angled-case, referring to the 
involucre.] 
Four known species, natives of the southern United States and northern Mexico, the follow- 
ing typical. 
1. Tetragonotheca helianthoides L. 
Tetragonotheca. Fig. 4440. 
Tetragonotheca helianthoides L. Sp. Pl. 903. 1753. 
Viscidly pubescent; stem branched or sim- 
ple, 1°-23° high Leaves ovate, ovate-oblong, 
or somewhat rhomboid, thin, coarsely and un- 
equally dentate, pinnately veined, acute at the 
apex, narrowed at the sessile or somewhat 
clasping base, 2’-6’ long, 1’-3’ wide; heads 
usually few, 14’-3’ broad; involucre 4-angled 
in the bud, its principal bracts broadly ovate, 
acute; rays 6-10, strongly parallel-nerved, 2-3- 
toothed; corolla-tube villous below; achenes 
4-sided, or nearly terete; pappus none. 
In dry soil, Virginia to Tennessee, Florida and 
Alabama. May-June. Sometimes flowering again 
in autumn. 
