SUNFLOWER FAMILY. 411 



along the naked virgate branches, 4 to 8-flowered; aehenes subelavate or 

 oblong, rugose-tubercnlate between the ribs; pappus clear white, plumose 

 almost throughout. — (Ptiloria virgata Greene.) 



Common on open canon sides and ridges, throughout California. Aug. -Sept. 



4. PICRIS L. 



Coarse rough-bristly biennial with leafy stems. Heads short-peduncled, ter- 

 minal or along the branches. Flowers yellow. Eeceptacle without bracts. 

 Outer bracts of involucre loose and spreading, ovate, bristly-margined and 

 spinescent at tip; inner bracts erect, linear-lanceolate. Achene somewhat flat- 

 tened, transversely rugose, ours with a long and slender beak and bearing a 

 pappus of densely plumose bristles. (Greek pikros, bitter.) 



1. P. echioides L. Bristly Ox-TONGUE. Branching, 2 to 3 ft. high; stem 

 hispid with barbed hairs; leaves narrowly oblong or the lower oblanceolate, 

 sessile, rough-hispid; bracts of the outer involucre 5, subcordate at base; 

 inner bracts long-acuminate, bearing just below the tip a pinnatifid bristle or 

 appendage; aehenes reddish, the body 1% lines long, the beak as long or 

 longer; pappus copious, white. 



Summer weed, naturalized from Europe: widely and thoroughly established 

 in open fields and waste grounds from southern Xapa Co. to Berkeley and 

 Santa Clara Co. Steadily and constantly spreading. 



5. TRAGOPOGON L. 



Stout glabrous biennial or perennial herbs, somewhat succulent. Leaves 

 grass-like, entire, clasping. Heads large, long-peduncled, opening in the early 

 morning, usually closed by midday. Flowers in ours purple. Involucre nar- 

 rowly campanulate. Involucral bracts in 1 series, nearly equal, lanceolate, 

 acuminate, united at the very base. Eeceptacle naked. Aehenes muricate, 5 

 to 10-ribbed, long-beaked or the outermost beakless. Pappus ample, its bristles 

 long-plumose. (Greek tragos, a goat, and pogon, a beard.) 



1. T. porrifolius L. Salsify. Stems from a stout taproot, very leafy at 

 base, 2 to 4 ft. high; leaves linear-lanceolate, long-acuminate, 1 ft. long or 

 more; peduncle thickened and hollow below the head; heads in fruit 2 to 2% 

 in. high; flowers deep purple; aehenes cylindric, y 2 in. long, the beak nearly 

 twice as long. 



Naturalized from Europe at Berkeley, spreading along grassy and less 

 frequented streets. May-June. Eoot edible, tasting like oysters and so called 

 "Oyster Plant." 



6. RAFINESQUIA Nntt. 



Stout leafy glabrous branching annuals. Leaves toothed or pinnatifid. 

 Panicle more or less corymbosely branching. Heads 15 to 30-flowered. In- 

 volucre in anthesis conical-cylindraceous. Flowers white, the ligules unequal. 

 Eeceptacle flat, naked. Aehenes terete, with a few obscure ribs, tapering into 

 a slender beak, excavated at the insertion, but without callous thickening. 

 Pappus-bristles capillary, 10 to 15, long-plumose from the base to near the tip. 

 (C. S. Eafinesque, 1783-1840, American naturalist, celebrated for his genius and 

 eccentricity.) 



1. R. calif ornica Nntt. Stem robust, sometimes almost fistulous below, 

 branching above, 1% to 5% ft. high; leaves oblong in outline, pinnatifid to 

 denticulate or almost entire, sessile and auriculate-clasping or the lowermost 

 narrowed to a fringed petiole, 6 in. long or less, those of the inflorescence 



