Mateicaeia.] composite, 475 



Achenes turbinate or oblong, silky. Pappus of sbort or long 

 aristate feathery bristles. — Species 7j natives of S. America, one 

 of whioli has beconae naturalized in India. 



T. procumbens, Linn. 8p, PI. 900,- F. B. I. .in, 311 ; Coolie Fl. Bowib. 

 n, 45. 



A weak straggling pubescent or hispid herb, 1-2 ft. high. Leaves few, 

 petioledj 1-2 in. long, ovate or lanceolate, coarsely dentate or pinnatisect, 

 clothed on both sides with bulbous-based hairs, base acute. Peduncles 

 ■often more than one foot long, solitary, slender, sparsely pilose. Heads 

 I in. in diam. Outer invol-hracts densely hairy, ovate, acuminate ; inner 

 longer, membranous, slightly pubescent on the hack. Ligules of ray- 

 flowers yellow, 3 -partite. J-c/ienes t'^ in. long, brown. Pappus of many 

 shining feathery bristles. 



Abundant within the area by roadsides, in grassy places, and on old walls. 

 Flowers during the greater part of the year. Distbib. A common 

 plant throughout India. Indigenous in 0. America. 



35. MATRICARIA, Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iii. 315. 



Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves alternate, l-2-pinnati8ect- 

 Meads terminal, peduncled, solitary or corymbose, heterogamous* 

 rayed (rarely disciform). Ray-flowers female, fertile or sterile ; 

 ligule white, elongate or rarely short. Dish-flowers 2-sexual, 

 fertile, tube terete or 2-edged, limb 4-5-fid: Involucre hemi- 

 spheric ; bracts in few series, appressed, margins usually scarious 

 and brown, outer shorter, Receptacle naked. Anther-bases 

 obtuse, entire. Style-arms of 2-sexual flowers with truncate and 

 j)enicillate tips. Achenes oblong, often incurved ; faees glandular 

 or rugulose, truncate, dorsally convex, ribbed or not, ventrally 

 .3-5-ribbed. Pappus very short, coroniform dimidiate or 0. — Species 

 about 20 ; in Europe, North and S. Africa, Asia and America. 



M. Chamomma, Linn» Sp. PI. 891; F. B. I. in, 315; Watt. E. D. 

 M. suaveolens, Linn ; Boxh. Fl. Ind. iii, 437. (Persian Chamomile.) 

 A glabrous much-branched aromatic herb about 1 ft. high. Leaves 2-3- 

 pinnatisect; segments almost filiform, fleads solitary, long-peduncled, 

 |-| in. in diam. Invol-hracts oblong, margins white. Receptacle conic, 

 elongating during fmiiting. Ligules white, much longer than the bracts, 

 deflexed after flowering or 0. Achenes with slender white ribs on the 

 ventral face only. Pappus 0. 

 Moradabad and Meerut districts (T. Thomson), Upper Gaugetic Plain 

 (Eoyle). DiSTBiB. Punjab Plain and westward to the Atlantic ; 

 also in N. Asia, and Japan. The flower-heads and the oil obtained by 

 distillation from this plant are used in India as a substitute for the true 

 .Chamomile {Anthemis nohilis). 



