542 



COMPOSITE. 



Marin Co.; San Mateo; Antioch; San Joaquin Valley. Less 

 common than no. 2 and scarcely differing except in surface character 

 of the leaves and steins. 



59. HELI ANTHUS L. Sunflower. 

 Stout coarse herbs with petioled simple leaves, yellow mostly entire 

 rays and brownish or purplish disk. Leaves (all but the lower or 

 lowest) alternate. Heads large, solitary on the ends of the branches 

 or in terminal corymbs. Bracts of the involucre imbricated. Kecep- 

 tacle flat or convex, its bracts persistent and embracing the 4-sided 

 achenes. Pappus of pointed palea? borne at the angle of the achene, 

 often with very small intervening scales, all caducous. (Greek 

 helios, sun, and anthos, flower, the heads turning toward the sun.) 



Annuals ; heads terminal on the branches. 



Bracts of the involucre ovate 1. if. annuus. 



Bracts of the involucre lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate. 

 Stems scabrous; awn of the chaffy bract equaling the disk-flowers . 



2. H. Bolanderi. 



Stems often hirsute, particularly near the heads; awn of the chaffy bract 



surpassing the disk-flowers 3. H. exilis. 



Perennial; heads corymbose-paniculate at the summit of the simple stem; 

 bracts with long spreading tail-like tips 4. H. Californicus. 



1. H. annuus L. Common Sunflower. Stems erect and simple 

 or more or less branching, 2 to 5 ft. high; herbage rough-hispid; 

 leaves deltoid-ovate, serrate, the uppermost narrow and often entire; 

 bracts of the involucre ovate, slenderly acuminate; disk 1 in. in 

 diameter, more or less; rays 1 to 1£ in. long. 



Plains of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valley, first appearing 

 in low places along country roads. July-Sept. 



2. H. Bolanderi Gray. Stems erect or diffusely branching, 1 to 



3 ft. high, scabrous-hispid; leaves ovate- to oblong-lanceolate, serrate 

 or entire; rays 8 lines long, toothed at apex; disk purple, 9 or 10 

 lines broad; bracts of the involucre hirsute, oblong-lanceolate, atten- 

 uate or acuminate; bracts of receptacle chaffy, 3-toothed, the middle 

 tooth much longer and awn-like. 



Abundant in low grain fields of the Sacramento Valley, thence 

 westward to the coast. Aug. -Sept. First collected at Bodega by 

 Hinds, botanist of the British exploring ship Sulphur. 



3. H. exilis Gray. Slender, often unbranched, 1 to 2 ft. high; 

 leaves ovate-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate; peduncles often hirsute- 

 villous beneath the heads; bracts of the involucre lanceolate, hairy on 

 the lower half; rays 6 or 7 lines long; awn-tip of the chaffy bract 

 surpassing the disk -flowers. 



Common in valleys about Clear Lake (where first collected by 

 Bolander); Sacramento Valley plains (acc. to Greene). Aug. Per- 

 haps better a variety of the preceding. 



4. H. Californicus DC. Stems from somewhat tuber-like roots, . 



4 to 11 ft. high; leaves from oblong to narrowly lanceolate, some of 

 the lower ovate, minutely hispidulous, 5 to 9 in. long including the 

 petiole, the lower opposite, the upper alternate, the larger 3-ribbed; 



