174 
COMPOSITES. 
\_Conyza . 
lower petioled, lanceolate, 2-3 in. long, deeply pinnatifid ; upper lobes 
close, entire, ligulate ; lower more distant, sometimes again pinnatifid. 
Heads numerous, in a long narrow panicle with ascending racemose 
branches. Involucre \ in. long ; scales linear, acuminate, nearly 
glabrous. Flowers 100 or more in a head. Receptacle convex, lanceo- 
late. Achene flat, oblanceolate, glabrous, ^ in. long ; pappus £ in. 
long, of copious very slender flexuose salmon-coloured bristles. 
Mauritius, in cultivated fields and waste ground- Also Bourbon, Madagascar, 
and Tropical Africa. Scarcely more than a variety of the widely-spread C. 
eegyptiaca. 
* Ximenesici enccelioides , Cav. ; DC. Prod. v. 627, (Verbesina, Benth.), 
a native of Mexico, now widely spread in the Old World, has been long 
established in Mauritius near the cemetery at Port Louis. It is a robust 
erect branched annual, with densely pilose stems, large membranous 
alternate deltoid acute sharply toothed leaves silvery beneath, narrowed 
suddenly into a sessile auriculate haft, a few long-peduncled showy 
yellow heads in a terminal corymb, involucre of 2-3 rows of large 
linear equal herbaceous scales, outer flowers with a large yellow ligule, 
inner very numerous tubular, tailless anthers, receptacle with large 
lanceolate scales clasping the flowers, and flattened obovate achenes 
with a wing on each side and a pair of small bristles at the tip. 
* Parthenium Hysterophorus , Linn. ; DC. Prod. v. 551 ; a native 
of Tropical America, is now a common weed in Mauritius and 
Rodriguez. It is a much-branched annual, 2-3 feet high, with 
obscurely pilose slender stems, large bipinnatifid petioled alter- 
nate lower leaves with narrow segments, copious very small heads 
in lax corymbose panicles, campanulate involucre with two rows of 
broad shining scales, the outer acute, the inner obtuse, outer flowers 
with a minute ligule, many inner tubular, receptacle scaly, anthers not 
tailed, style of hermaphrodite flowers unbrauched, obovoid campanulate 
shining minute achenes with a pappus of 2-3 lanceolate scales. It has 
been gathered by Mr. Horne on Flat Island, and is also established in 
Bourbon. Herbe Blanche. 
18. FAUJASIA, Cass. 
Flowers in a head all tubular, those of the centre perfect, but a few 
of the outside ones antherless. Involucre funnel-shaped or campanu- 
late, of one row of ligulate herbaceous scales, edge to edge, and a few 
small outside ones at the base. Receptacle naked or obscurely fim- 
brilliferous. Anthers not tailed. Style-armed subterete, truncate, 
penicillate at the tip. Achenes glabrous, cylindrical; pappus of 
copious white rather firm ciliated bristles. — Shrubs with alternate 
leaves and copious heads in terminal corymbose panicles. Distjrib. En- 
demic in the Mascaren Isles. No other species than these three known. 
Flowers few. Leaves linear, 1 -nerved 1. F. pinifolia. 
Flowers many. Leaves broad. 
Leaves petioled, ovate or oblong 2. F. flexuosa. 
Leaves sessile, round-cordate 3. F. reticulata. 
