SUNFLOWER FAMILY. 451 



57. BALSAMORRHIZA Hook. Balsam Root. 



Low perennials with thick terebinthine-scented roots, crowned by a tuft of 

 radical leaves and several naked or few-leaved stems, bearing solitary heads 

 of yellow flowers. Outer bracts of the broad involucre foliaceous. Ligules with 

 a distinct tube. Achenes destitute of pappus, those of the disk 4-sided. (Greek 

 balsamon, balsam, and rhiza, root.) 



1. B. hookeri Nutt. Herbage canescent with fine short hairs; leaves 7 to 

 10 in. long, pinnately divided, the divisions serrate or again pinnately divided; 

 scapes equaling or exceeding the leaves, bearing solitary heads; bracts of the 

 involucre oblong-lanceolate; bracts of the receptacle linear, acuminate, the outer 

 with green tips; heads 2 to 2% in. broad, including the ample rays. 



Santa Barbara, San Martin (Santa Clara Co.) and the Oakland Hills through 

 the Coast Ranges to Tehama Co., and north to Washington. Bare in our dis- 

 trict. May. 



58. WYETHIA Nutt. 



Perennial herbs. Root very stout, crowned by a short caudex which bears a 

 tuft of ample leaves and several simple 1-headed steins. Leaves mostly entire, 

 the cauline mostly few and smaller. Heads large. Involucre hemispherical or 

 campanulate, its bracts in 2 or 3 series, the outermost often foliaceous and 

 much enlarged, the innermost small and bract-like. Receptacle flat or nearly 

 so, its bracts rigid, linear or lanceolate, either flattish or partially folded 

 around the achenes. Flowers yellow, both ray and disk fertile, the latter per- 

 fect ; ligule of ray-corollas elongated and very conspicuous. Branches of the 

 style in perfect flowers produced into subulate-filiform hispid appendages. 

 Achene prismatic-quadrangular. Pappus firm and persistent, consisting of a 

 crown of unequal scales, or with rigid awns at the angles. (Capt. Nath. J. 

 "Wyeth, with whom Nuttall crossed the continent in the early part of the 19th 

 century.) 



Leaves elongated-lanceolate, the cauline sessile; outer bracts of the involucre not foliaceous, 



little or not at all surpassing the disk 1. W . angustifolia. 



Leaves elongated-oblong or ovate, the cauline short-petioled; involucre foliaceous, the 

 outer bracts spreading and commonly much surpassing the disk. 



Herbage minutely or even floccose tomentose 2. W . helenioides. 



Herbage perfectly glabrous, glandular-pubescent and roughish 3. IV. glabra. 



1. W. angustifolia Nutt. Stems 1 to 2 ft. high, hirsute; herbage green; 

 leaves elongated-lanceolate, acuminate at both ends, occasionally serrulate, the 

 radical and low T er ones y» to 1 ft. long, the upper sessile and smaller; heads 

 naked, i. e., not leafy at the base, the bracts of the involucre numerous, broadly 

 linear or lanceolate, loose, ciliate with villous or hirsute hairs; achenes minutely 

 pubescent at summit, 3 lines long, bearing 1 or 2 (or those of the ray 3 or 4) 

 stout minutely hirsute awns, with some very short intervening chaffy scales, all 

 more or less united at base, rarely awnless. 



Common on the plains and low hills: Monterey Co.; San Mateo Co.; San 

 Francisco Co.; Oakland Hills; Mt. Diablo; Solano Co. and northward to Shasta 

 Co. The green shoots are eaten raw by the Eupas. 



2. W. helenioides Nutt. One to 2 ft. high, soft-tomentose, almost glabrous 

 in age; radical leaves 1 to 2 ft. long, 4 to «'» in. wide, acute at base and apex, 

 often undulate, long-petioled ; cauline leaves much smaller, more commonly ob- 

 long-ovate; heads 3 in. broad, including rays, mostly leafy at base; outer scales 

 of the involucre ovate-lanceolate or ovate, sometimes toothed; pappus and 

 upper portion of achenes slightly pubescent, at least when young. 



Common in the Coast Range hills: San Luis Obispo Co.; Oakland Hills; 

 Antioch; Vaca Mts., etc. Apr.-May. 



