486 COMPOSITE. [Leucomeris. 



V. divaricata, Benfh. 4" Hook. f. Gen. PI. ii, 476 (in part) ; F. B. I. 

 ■•in, 383 ; Watt E. D. ; Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 57. Microlonchus divaricatus, 

 DC. ; Boyle III. 246. 



A straggling stiff annual, didiotomonsly branched, glabrous or scaberu- 

 lous; branches 1-2 ft. long, spreading, angled. Leaves yevj variable, sessile, 

 1-2 in. or longer, oblong or obovate, entire toothed cr pinnatifid; lobes 

 rounded and mucronate, often undulate or crisped. Heads i-l in. long, 

 i-^ in. in diam., glabrous or 'cottony-pubescent. Invol-brads ovsbte ov 

 elliptic-oblong, with a long spinescent awn, the outer spreading or 

 recurved the inner erect. Pales of receptacle short. Corolla \ in. long, 

 pale-purple ; lobes linear, acute. Achenes ^ in., acutely angled, grooved 

 and punctate between the angles, base narrow, areole small, top broad 

 and truncate. Pappus of many unequal scaberulous silvery brown 

 hairs. 



Common in all parts of the area on river-banks and on waste ground, 

 especially where the soil is sandy. Flowers from Nov. to April. 

 DiSTRiB. Chota Nagpur, Punjab Plain, Sindh, and south to the 

 Konkan, the Central Provinces and S. India ; also in Afghanistan and 

 Baluchistan. The plant is imporbed into Bombay and sold as a drug. 



46. LEUCOMERIS, Don. ; Fl, Brit. Ind. ill, 386. 



Shrubs or small trees. Leaves alternate, broad, quite entire. 

 Heads corymbose, homogamous, discoid, 4-8-flowered, white. Flowers 

 all 2-sexual, similar and fertile, tubular ; segment^ 5, narrow, revolute. 

 Involucre much shorter than the flowers, ovoid ; bracts many-seriate, 

 ovate cr laaceolate, coriaceous or dry, outer smaller. Receptaci e 

 flat, naked. Anther-bases sagittate, auricles connate, tails ciliate. 

 Style filiform, obtuse, 2-fid. Achenes oblong, subterete, 5-ribbed, 

 silky. Pappus copious, hairs very slender, scabrid, outer shorter. — 

 Species 2, both Indian. 



L. spectabUis, Bon Prod. 170 ; Boyle III. 247 ; F. B. I. Hi, 3S6 ; Kanji- 

 lal For. Fl. Sch. Circ. 209 ; Gamble Man. 425.— Vern. Phusidri, phusdra. 

 A large shrub or small tree with white corky bark; branches stout, grooved. 

 Leaves shortly petioled, 4-14 in. long, elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate or 

 oblanceolate, coriaceous, glabrous above, denselyjwhite-tomentose be- 

 neath, petioles dilated at the base. Heads f-1 in. long, arranged in large 

 bracteolate tomentose corymbs. Invol-bracts few, nearly flat ; inner 

 linear-lanceolate, acute ; outer shorter, with many smaller distant ones 

 on the pedicels below. Corolla 1 in. long, white. Achenes ^-^ in., 

 slender, densely silky. Pappus ^ in. long, rigid, pale-yellow. 



•Siwalik range (Eoyle) : Dehra Dun, at Bulawala (Kanjilal). Flowers 

 during April and May. DiSTRiB, W. Himalaya, from Garhwal to 

 -Nepal, up to 6,000 ft. 



