"458 .COMPOSITE,. [Sph2EBa.nthus. 



female, many-seriate, fertile, filiform. Dish'flowers herm., few, 

 sterile, tubular, limb 5 -fid. Involucre ovoid or campanulate ; bracts 

 ovate, usually broad, dry, rigid. Receptacle flat, naked, Anther' 

 bases sagittate, cells tailed. Style-arms of herm. flowers filiform, 

 entire or 2-fid. AcJienes em&Wy 4-5-angled. Pappus'hairs &\ej\^Qr, 

 1 -seriate, rigid, free, or achenes many and connate in tbe sterile 

 flowers. — Species about 30, tropical and sub-tropical. 



Leaves broadly ovate or oborate, incised 

 serrate LP. tomentosa. 



Leaves coriaceous, oblong or oblanceolate, 

 entire or toothed near the apex . . 2, P. lanceolata, 



1. P. tomentosa, DO. in Wight Contrih. 36 ; F, B. I. Hi, 272 ; Coohe Fl. 

 iBomh. ii, 25. 



A small more or less tomentose or glandular-pubescent shrub up to 5 ft. 

 high. Leaves sessile, 1^-2 in. long, broadly ovate or obovate, acute or 

 obtuse, subamplexicaul and often auricled at the base or sub- 

 decurrent, coarsely toothed, softly pubescent beneath. Heads about 

 ^ in., in diam., many, arranged in compound terminal corymbs. Outer 

 invol-bracts short, ovate, acute ; inner linear-oblong, acute, ciliate at 

 the apex. Receptacle glabrous. Achenes obscurely angled. Pappus 

 reddish. 



^Dehra Dun (T. Thomson), Banks of -the Ganges from Fatehgarh to 

 Cawnpore (Madden). Flowers in Dec. Distbib. Sind, Bombay, C. 

 India to Travancore. 



2. P. lanceolata, C. B, Clarhe Comp. Ind. 94 ; F. B. I. Hi, 272 ; Watt 

 F. D.; Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 26.— Vern. Banserai (Aligarh), choti halia 

 (Agra), sorahi (Cawnpore). 



-A small hoary-pubescent shrub with erect rather slender branches. Leaves 

 coriaceous, sessile, 1-2 in., oblong or oblanceolate, narrowed to the 

 base, entire or toothed round the apex, minutely pilose, pale when dry ; 

 nerves very oblique, prominent on both surfaces. Heads in compound 

 corymbs, longer than broad. Involucre contracted at the mouth ; outer 

 bracts short, very obtuse, hoary, usually tinged with purple ; inner few, 

 linear, subacute. Achenes minute. Pa^^j^ws-hairs connate at the base. 



r.Doab tract, especially in sandy or saline soil, also in the Ajmere district 

 and in certain parts of Eajputana. Flowers during the cold season 

 Distbib. Plains of Punjab and Sind. A very troublesome weed in 

 cultivated ground owing to its deeply penetrating vigorous roots. 

 The leaves are sometimes used medicinally. 



15. SPH^RANTHUS, Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iii, 274. 

 Low annuals with spreading branches. Leaves alternate, toothed, 

 •'decurrent. Seads small, in terminal solitary globose clusters, which 



