HO COMPOSITAE. 



5, somewhat spreading, the inner about 8, erect. Achenes 5-angled, truncate, 

 beakless. Pappus of 2 or 3 series of short blunt paleae. (Altered from the 

 Arabic name.) 



1. C. intybus L. Chicory. Stems erect from a deep taproot, 2 to 4 ft. 

 high; radical leaves runcinate-pinnatifid; heads in sessile clusters along the 

 nearly naked branches; flowers rarely white. 



Waste fields, escaped from gardens: Berkeley, Oakland, etc. Eoot used 

 as a substitute for coffee. 



2. SCOLYMUS L. 



Erect glabrous thistle-like herb. Leaves alternate, rigid, sinuate-dentate or 

 pinnatifid, decurrent, the lobes spinescent. Heads rather large, terminal and 

 lateral, sessile. Flowers yellow. Bracts of the involucre in few rows, scarious- 

 margined and spinescent-tipped, subtended by foliaceous bracts. Receptacle 

 chaffy, the chaff more or less embracing the beakless achenes. Pappus a crown 

 of scarious unequal paleae. (Old Greek name.) 



1. S. hispanicus L. Golden Thistle. Native of the Mediterranean Re- 

 gion, naturalized at Los Gatos. 



Rhagadiolus Juss. Annual herbs with yellow flowers. Bracts of the invol- 

 ucre in a single row, narrow, rigid, incurved, enfolding the marginal achenes, 

 stellately spreading in age, sparingly hispid. Receptacle naked. Achenes 5 to 

 10-ribbed, the ribs barbellate. Pappus of outer achenes a crown of denticulate 

 or fimbriate scales; pappus of inner achenes double, the inner set consisting 

 of bristles paleaceous-dilated towards the base, the outer set consisting of 

 short scales or none. R. hedypnois All. Commonly branched, 2 or 3 ft. high; 

 radical leaves petioled and often lobed, the cauline sessile, entire, serrate, or 

 with a few coarse salient teeth ; flowering heads % in. in diameter or less, on 

 naked or sparingly leafy peduncles. — European weed reported from Sonoma 

 Co., Mariposa Co. and San Diego. 



Scorzonera L. Heads borne on very long peduncles. Flowers yellow. 

 Bracts imbricated in several series, the outer ovate, the inner lanceolate, all 

 acuminate. Receptacle naked. Achenes many-ribbed, beakless. Pappus-bristles 

 in several series, unequal, serrulate or more or less soft-hairy, some often 

 longer and naked at the apex. S. hispanica L. Viper's Grass. Perennial 

 herb 2 to 3 ft. high; herbage glabrous and glaucous; leaves oblong, serrulate, 

 tapering to a petiole at base, 1% ft. long or less; heads in anthesis 2 in. in 

 diameter, nodding in the bud. — Garden plant, native of Europe, cultivated for 

 the sake of its carrot-like roots, spontaneous in Knights Valley and around 

 Calistoga and Ukiah. 



3. STEPHANOMERIA Nutt. 



Tall and rather slender annual herbs, paniculately branching above. Leaves 

 runcinate, reduced above to herbaceous bracts. Heads small, 3 to 12-flowered. 

 Flowers pink or flesh-color, open in the early morning, the ligules all equal. 

 Involucre cylindrical or rarely campanulate, its inner bracts linear and equal, 

 with some short calyculate outer ones. Receptacle flat, naked. Achenes 

 oblong or short-linear, strongly angled, glabrous, often rugose, truncate at 

 both ends, the broad base hollowed at the insertion. Pappus-bristles white, 

 plumose. (Greek stephaue, a wreath, and meros, a division, perhaps referring 

 to the virgate branches.) 



1. S. virgata P.enth. Herbage glabrous; stem rigid, virgate or with virgate 

 branches, 1 to 1 ft. high; upper leaves linear, small ami entire; lower oblong 

 <>>• Bpatulate, often sinuate or pinnatifid; heads 3 to 4 lines long, subsessile 



