Vebnonia.] 



COMPOSITE. 



Achenes ovoid, oblong, or narrovv, 

 more or less compressed, usually 

 beaked . . . . • . 



50. Lactuca. 



Achenes not beaked. 



Achenes oblong, with 4-5 rugose 

 ribs ; outermost bracts with 

 broad scarious margins . . 51. PiCRlDiUM. 



Achenes compressed, ovoid or 

 obovoid; rits smooth or rugose . 52. Sonchus. 



Achenes columnar, truncate at both 

 ends 63. Latjn^a. 



1. VERNONIA, Schreb. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iii, 229. 



Herbs, shrubs, climbers or small trees. Leaves alternate. JSeads 

 terminal or axillary, solitary cymose or panicled, homogamous. In' 

 valuer ei ovoid globose or hemispheric, equalling or shorter than .the 

 flowers ; bracts in many series, inner longest- JRece^tacle naked or 

 pitted,' sometimes shortly hairy. Corollas all equal, tubular, slender ; 

 lobes 5, narrow. Anther-bases obtuse. Style-arms subulate. Achenes 

 striate ribbed or angled, rarely terete. Pappus of many hairs, 

 often girt with a row of outer short hairs or flattened bristles. — Species 

 about 380, chiefly tropical. 



Heads | in. or more in diam., achenes hairy or 

 silky. 



Achenes ribbed, heads in terminal corymbs. 



Heads fascicled in, term, corymbose pani- 

 cles; outermost invol -bracts subulate, 

 the inner linear. — A perennial herb . 1. F. Roxhurghiit 



Heads subcorymbose ; invol. bracts all 

 linear, the inner with broad purplish 

 tips.— An annual 2.'V. anthelmintica. 



Achenes terete, not ribbed, heads sub- 

 solitary . . . ,. . . . 3. 7. revoluta, 



(Heads small, about 5 in. in diam. 



Achenes ribbed.— Small shrubs. 



Achenes glabrous . . . . . 4. F. divergens. 



Achenes hispid , . » . " . 5. F. cinerascens, 



Achenes not ribbed, pubescent. A herb . 6. F. cinerea. 



