494 



COMPOSITE. 



fistulous under the oblong head; leaves linear (3 to 6 in. long and 1 

 to 2 lines wide) and with 2 or 3 to several pairs of more or less remote 

 salient lobes; head at maturity (after the achenes have spread) 1£ to 

 If in. broad; achenes attenuate above into a beak, 5 lines long; 

 pappus silvery white, 6 or 7 lines long, the very delicate awn about 

 ^ the length of the deeply notched palete. — (Microseris linearifolia 

 Gray.) 



Open ground, low hills or sometimes on higher slopes, throughout 

 California. Apr. -May. 



2. U. Lindleyi (DC.) Nutt. Stout, 10 to 14 in. high, the peduncle 

 scarcely thickened under the head; leaves as in the preceding, but 

 rather broader; achene brownish, 5 lines long, slightly narrowed 

 toward the summit; pappus dull brown or sordid, 6 to 7 lines long, 

 the awn from a shallow notch and very little shorter than the palea. 

 — (Microseris Lindleyi DC.) 



Oakland and San Mateo Co., southward to Southern California. 



Var. Clevelandi (Uropappus Clevelandi Greene). Scurfy-puber- 

 ulent; achenes not at all attenuate; awn less than half as long as the 

 palea. — Plains east of Mt. Diablo. 



3. U. macrochaetus (Gray) Greene. One to 2 ft. high; involucre 

 in anthesis narrow, 8 or 10 lines high; achenes 3 to 4 lines long, 

 decidedly attenuate at summit; palea short, only £ of the length jof 

 the awn, cleft to the middle. — (Microseris macrochreta Gray.) 



San Francisco, Bigelow (acc. to Gray), to San Diego. 



Var. Kelloggii (Calais Kelloggii Greene). Achenes attenuate at 

 each end and the palea with a shallow notch. — San Bruno Hills and 

 Marin Co. 



9. MICROSERIS Don. 

 Acaulesccnt annuals, glabrous or only slightly puberulent. Leaves 

 in a radical tuft, pinnatifid with mostly linear and often falcate lobes, 

 or entire. Peduncles scape-like, leafless, one-headed. Heads in 

 anthesis narrowly oblong to ovoid or subglobose, nodding in the 

 bud, mostly erect in fruit. Ligules short. Achenes slender- 

 fusiform or cylindric, ribbed, mostly truncate. Pappus-paleae 5, 

 mostly short, abruptly or gradually passing into the scabrous awn. 

 (Greek micros, small, and Seris, Lettuce.) 



Achenes attenuate toward the apex, the upper half not filled by the seed. . 



1. M. attenuata. 



Achenes tapering slightly from base to summit or even almost turbinate, 

 the whole cell filled by the seed. 

 Palese reduced to a triangular base or almost none, the awns fragile and 



deciduous 2. M. aphantocarpha. 



I'alese of the pappus conspicuous, the awns less brittle and more persistent. 

 Heads less than % in. high; achenes little more than 1 line long .... 



3. M. elegans. 



Heads more than % in. high. 

 Heads hemispherical in mature fruit, or nearly so; paleae and awns 

 rather sharply defined, the palea y 2 to % the length of the awn. 

 Achenes obviously contracted under the summit, the outermost 



commonly white-villous 4. M. Douglasii. 



Achenes not contracted under the truncate summit, the outermost 

 sometimes villous 5. M. Bigtlovii. 



