Descriptive Flora 



235 



Thelesperma subsimplicifolium A. Gray. Thelesperma. 



Perennial, with pale, slender, swaying, few-leaved stems 

 from iy 2 to 2y 2 feet tall, covered with a " bloom' ' like cabbage, 

 and bearing yellow composite flowers about 1 inch across. Stem 

 leaves simple, opposite, far apart on the stem, narrow and entire, 

 about as wide as the midrib and 1 to 2 inches long. Lower leaf- 

 blades divided into 3 to 5 very narrow lobes. Flowers composite, 

 yellow, singly terminating the many naked slender upper 

 branches. Involucre of two sets of bracts, the outer green, 

 narrow, pointed, the inner membraneous. Rays 8, 3-toothed, 

 yellow. Achenes narrow, wingless. April and throughout the 

 summer. Limestone hills and hillsides of the Edwards Plateau. 



Easily distinguished from Thelesperma trifidum by the 

 smaller flowers, the yellow centers (never brown), the much 

 taller and more slender swaying stems, and the "bloom" covered 

 foliage and stems. 



Thelesperma trifidum (Poir.) Britton. 

 (Thelesperma filifolium Gray.) 



Plants 1 to 2 feet high, each of the many branches ter- 

 minated by a composite flower about across, and with 

 purplish or brown centers and 6 to 9 yellow, 3-toothed rays. 

 Leaves opposite, finely dissected into linear segments no broader 

 than the rachis. Flowers singly terminating the naked slender 

 upper branches. Involucre and fruit similar to above species. 

 April to July. Widespread. 



Marshallia caespitosa Nutt. Puffballs. 



Slender-stemmed plants with narrow leaves largely tufted 

 at the root, a few alternating up the main stem, which branches 

 into 1 to several, almost naked stems, each ending in a large, 

 fluffy white flower ball about 1" in diameter. Leaves simple, 

 alternate. Blades 1 to 4" long, entire, 3-nerved, broadly linear or 

 oblanceolate. Flowers composite, composed of slender, tubular 

 5-lobed corollas. Ray flowers none. Bracts green, linear. Rocky 

 hillsides, usually in the full sun. Flowers sometimes confused 



