254 COMPOSITE. (composite family.) 



37. RUDBECKIA, L. Cone-flower. 



Heads many-flowered, radiate ; the rays neutral. Scales of the involucre 

 leaf-like, in about 2 rows, spreading. Keceptacle conical or columnar ; the short 

 chaff" concave, not rigid. Acheuia 4-angular, smooth, not margined, flat at the 

 top, with no pappus, or a minute crown-like border. — Chiefly perennial herbs, 

 with alternate leaves, and showy heads terminating the stem or branches ; the 

 rays generally long, yellow. (Named in honor of the- Professors Rudbeck, father 

 and son, predecessors of Linneeus at Upsal.) 



* Disk columnar in fruit, dull greenish-yellow : leaves divided and cut. 



1. R. laciniata, L. Stem smooth, branching (3° -7° high); leaves 

 smooth or roughish, the lowest pinnate, with 5-7 cut or 3-lobed leaflets; upper 

 leaves irregularly 3-5-parted; the lobes ovate-lanceolate, pointed, or the upper- 

 most undivided ; heads long-peduncled ; chaff' truncate and downy at the tip ; 

 rays linear ( I ' - 2' long), drooping. — Low thickets : common. July - Sept. 



* * Disk globular, pale brownish : lower leaves 3-parted : receptacle sweet-scented. 



2. R. SUbtomentbsa, Pursh. Stem branching above (3° -4° high), 

 downy, as well as the lower side of the ovate or ovate-lanceolate serrate leaves ; 

 heads short-ped uncled ; chaff downy at the blunt apex. — Prairies, Wisconsin, 

 Illinois, and southward. 



* * * Disk broadly ccnical, dark purple or brown : leaves undivided, except No. 3. 



3. R. triloba, L. Hairy, biennial, much branched (2° - 5° high), the 

 branches slender and spreading ; upper leaves ovate-lanceolate, sparingly toothed, 

 the lower 3-lobed, tapering at the base, coarsely-serrate (those from the root pin- 

 nately parted or undivided) ; rays 8, oval or oblong ; chaff of the black-purple 

 disk smooth, awned. — Dry soil, Penn. to Illinois, and southward. Aug. — 

 Heads small, but numerous and showy. 



4. R. specidsa, Wenderoth. Roughish-hairy (l°-2° high), branched; 

 the branches upright, elongated and naked above, terminated by single large 

 heads ; leaves lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, pointed at both ends, petiohd, 3 - 5-nerved 

 coarsely and unequally toothed or incised ; involucre much shorter than the numer- 

 ous elongated (l'~l£') rays ; chaff of the dark purple disk acutish, smooth. — 

 Dry soil, W. Penn. to Ohio and Virginia. July. 



5. R. fdlgida, Ait. Hairy, the branches naked at the summit and bear- 

 ing single heads ; leaves spatu/ate-oblong or lanceolate, partly clasping, triple-nerved, 

 the upper entire, mostly obtuse; rays about 12, equalling or exceeding the involucre ; 

 chaff of the dark purple disk nearly smooth and blunt. — Dry soil, Pennsyl- 

 vania to Kentucky and southward. — Variable, l°-3° high : the rays orange- 

 yellow. Nearly approaches the next. 



6. R. hirta, L. Very rough and bristly-hairy throughout ; stems simple 

 or branched near the base, stout (l°-2° high), naked above, bearing single 

 large heads; leaves nearly entire; the upper oblong or lanceolate, sessile ; the lower 

 spatulate, triple-nerved, petioled ; rays (about 14) more or less exceeding the 

 involucre; chaff of the dull brown disk hairy at the tip, acutish. — Dry soil, W. 

 New York to Wisconsin and southward. Now common eastward, as a weed 

 in meadows, of recent introduetion, with clover-seed from the West. June- 

 Aag. 



