132 Contributions from the Gray Herbarium 
sides, 5.5-9 em. long, 1.6-2.6 cm. wide. Peduncles strigillose be- 
low, densely hispidulous above, 5.5-29 em. long; disk 8-10 mm. 
high, 1.3-1.6 cm. thick. Involucre 2-seriate, equalling or slightly 
exceeding the disk, its phyllaries lanceolate, acute, densely tuber- 
culate-strigillose. Rays yellow, 12-16, oblong, 1.1-2.2 cm. long, 
3-4.5 mm. wide; disk-corollas yellow, strigillose, 4 mm. long. 
Pales acute, puberulous on back, 8 mm. long. Achenes sparsely 
pubescent. Awns paleaceous (sometimes solitary ?); squamellae 
about 4, irregular, about half as long as the awns. — BRAZIL: 
Minas Gerass: 1816-21, A. St. Hilaire 1160 (rrp: Par., photog. 
G.); 1838, Claussen (Par.); 1844, Weddell (Par.); Santa CaTH- 
ERINA: 1816-21, A. St. Hilaire 1136 (Par.). — Confused in the 
Paris Herbarium with V. oblongifolia Gardn., which it resembles 
in foliage but not in involucre. 
Series D. Aureae, ser. nov. Herbae perennes vel rarissime an- 
nuae vel suffrutices rare frutices, foliis saepe ovatis vel lanceolatis 
rare linearibus, involucri (2—) 3-5-seriati phyllariis basi plus minusve 
induratis apice herbaceo saepissime e basi non abrupte distincto. 
— Species typica V. aurea (HBK.) Hieron. — A large and variable 
group, chiefly to be distinguished from the other series of Paradosa — 
by negative characters. It has not the habit or involucre of the 
Tenutfoliae, although both V. anchusaefolia and V. hispida some- 
what approach that group, nor the habit or heads of the Revolutae, 
nor the foliage or quite the involucre of the Grandiflorae. Through 
V. tucumanensis, V. atacamensis, and V. breviflosculosa it grades 
into the Bracteatae, which as a group are ordinarily easily recog- 
nized by their more prominently indurated phyllaries. The 
species range from Ei Ecuador to Argentina, Uruguay, a and Brazil, 
each region having its own more or less distinet groups of species. 
Two very unequal subseries based on duration may be distin- 
guished. ponte 83-113 

Subseries a. Euaureae, subser. nov. Perennes herbaceae vel 
suffrutescentes rare frutices. — Species typica V. aurea (HBK. 
Hieron. — Species 83-111. 
