SUNFLOWEfi FAMILY. 4.*)7 



Bracts of the sterile flowers inconspicuous, oblanceolate, acute; pappus present 



1. 5". gnaphalioides. 



Bracts about sterile flowers ovate-lanceolate, tapering into a conspicuous rigid hooked 



cusp: pappus none 2. S. filaginea. 



1. S. gnaphalioides Nutt. Loosely white-woolly, diffusely branched, the 

 stnns 4 to 9 in. Long; leaves broadly linear or the upper oblong, obtuse, barely 

 3 lines long-; pistillate (or fertile) flowers numerous, their bracts ovate, nearly 

 plane on the upper surface, a central portion at the base produced on the 

 lower side into a sac enclosing the achene, this portion firm, the remainder 

 hyaline; sterile flowers little shorter than their bracts, with rudimentary ovary 

 and a pappus of few caducous bristles. 



Stanislaus Co. to Monterey and Southern California. Sac woolly on lower 

 side. Sterile flowers little shorter than their bracts. 



2. S. filaginea Gray. Erect, branched from the base, 2 to 8 in. high, canes- 

 cent with fine appressed wool which is later flocculent ; cauline leaves narrowly 

 linear ( J ■_, line wide), those involucrate to the heads much broader; fertile 

 flowers 5 to 9, theii bracts boat-shaped, firm except at the hyaline tip, smaller 

 than the 5 empty bracts which surround the sterile flowers in the center; empty 

 bracts somewhat coriaceous, tapering into a rigid incurved hooked cusp, per- 

 sistent, and at length stellately spreading. 



Mendocino Co.; Tehama Co.; Mt. St. Helena; south to Southern California 

 and north to Oregon. Aspect suggestive of Filago californica. 



69. PSILOCARPHUS Nutt. 



Depressed or prostrate white-woolly annuals. Leaves opposite, entire, the 

 uppermost involucrate around the small sessile globose heads, which are soli- 

 tary in the forks or at the ends of the branches, or some clustered. Heads 

 discoid. Bracts clothed with soft wool, crowded on the low receptacle and 

 forming a globose head; each bract sac-like, half-obcordate or obovate in side 

 view, hooded and rounded at the top with the apex introrse (turned downward 

 and inward) and beaked by a hyaline appendage or scale. Flowers unisexual; 

 pistillate flowers loosely enclosed in the sac-like bracts, with filiform corollas; 

 staminate flowers few, occupying the center of the head and naked, i. e., 

 destitute of enclosing or other bracts. Achenes straight or slightly curved. 

 Pappus none. (Greek psilos, bare, and karphos, chaff.) 



Involucrate leaves obspatulate, 3 or 4 times longer than the head 1. P. tenellus. 



Involucrate leaves oblong to lanceolate, 1 to 2 times as long as the head. . . .2. P. oreganus. 



1. P. tenellus Nutt. Prostrate, the forking stems forming a dense mat 3 

 to 10 in. broad; leaves obspatulate, mueionate, 4 to 8 lines long; heads numer- 

 ous, 2 lines wide; achene about % line long, oblong or slightly broader toward 

 the summit. 



Valleys and low hills: Coast Eanges; Sacramento Valley; San Joaquin Val- 

 ley; Southern California. Northward to Washington. June. 



2. P. oreganus Nutt. var. brevissimus Jepson. Dwarfish, the stems pros- 

 trate, several to many from the base but mostly simple, 1 to 5 in. long; leaves 

 oblong or some obspatulate, obtuse or merely acute, the involucrate ones partly 

 concealing the heads ; heads comparatively few, 4 to 5 lines broad, more loosely 

 woolly than in the preceding; staminate flowers about 7 or 8; achene cylin- 

 drical or slightly clavate, loss than 1 line long. — (P. brevissimus Nutt.) 



Dry beds of vernal pools: Solano Co. to Santa Clara Co. May-June. 



70. EVAX Gaertn. 

 Dwarf rigid densely woolly annuals with entire leaves. Heads with disk- 

 flowers only; pistillate flowers at base of slender columnar receptacle, the male 



